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Number 36: How well are Australian infants and children aged 4 to 5 years doing? 

September 2008 

by Melissa Wake, Ann Sanson, Donna Berthelsen, Pollyanna Hardy, Sebastian Misson, Katherine Smith, Judy Ungerer and the LSAC Research Consortium

The researchers used Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) dataset. The findings are broadly applicable to all Australian families with young children and directly relevant to social policy development and practice.

The key emergent themes of the analysis are:
  • Most children are doing well and a few have pervasive difficulties.
  • Sociodemographic factors are more strongly related to child than infant developmental outcomes.
  • Different forms of non-parental care and early education programs have differential effects on developmental outcomes.
  • Child health variables affect developmental outcomes.
  • Maternal physical and mental health affects child outcomes.
  • Family learning environments are strongly associated with children's learning outcomes.

Full paper: How well are Australian infants and children aged 4 to 5 years doing?

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