Growing Up in New Zealand: Now we are 12

Growing Up in New Zealand is a longitudinal study that collects contemporary, population-relevant information to understand the development and wellbeing of children growing up in New Zealand in the 21st century. The study began by recruiting pregnant mothers who had expected delivery dates between 25 April 2009 and 25 March 2010 and were residing in the geographical areas defined by the three contiguous District Health Board regions (DHBs) of Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waikato. The cohort of 6,853 children recruited at baseline was diverse, broadly generalisable to the New Zealand birth population at the time, and of sufficient size to provide adequate statistical power for complex analyses of developmental trajectories within subgroups (including by ethnicity and area-level deprivation). Growing Up in New Zealand has since carried out multiple significant DCWs. This collection highlights the reports collated after the 12-year data collection wave, with comprehensive analyses on the cohort at age 12.

The 12-year Data Collection Wave (DCW) that occurred between September 2021 and October 2022, during which the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) mothers, mother's partners, the young people and their teachers, each completed questionnaires. Information was gathered on their culture and identity, family and whānau relationships, health and wellbeing, education, psychological and coginitive development, and societal context and neighbourhood engagement.