ESRA 2025 Preliminary Program

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Children and Youth cohort studies: developments and innovations 2
Session Organisers	Professor Lisa Calderwood (UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies) Dr Larissa Pople (UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies)
Time	Tuesday 15 July, 11:00 - 12:30
Room	Ruppert 040

Longitudinal cohort studies of children and youth are a core part of the survey infrastructure in many countries, and in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a renewed focus on such studies as vital evidence bases for child and adolescent research including on well-being, education and labour market. However, the broader context of such studies is increasing challenges with ensuring population representativeness, participant engagement and inclusivity, and the need for sufficient analytical power for research about hard-to-reach groups to inform vital policy questions.
This session will cover recent developments and innovations in child and youth cohort studies. This includes study design approaches for newly established child and youth cohorts, as well as developments in existing cohort studies who survey children and young people.
The session aims to showcase recent developments in the research landscape around child and youth cohorts, and to explore survey methodological issues around surveying children and young people.
Submissions are particularly welcomed on:
- design and implementation of new child and youth cohort studies
- developments in existing child and youth cohort studies
- giving children and young people a voice in study design, and participant co-production
- measurement in child and youth cohorts, including questionnaires and direct assessments
- collecting data on sensitive topics from children and young people
- data collection innovations and mode
- inclusivity in child and youth cohort studies
- assessing the reliability and validity of children and young people’s self-reports
- preventing non-response and innovative approaches to participant engagement
- the challenges of retaining young people’s contact and interest in surveys over time
- ethical issues in involving children and young people in surveys, including informed consent and young people’s rights.
- addressing international comparisons and data harmonisation
Submissions need not be restricted to these specific examples.

Keywords: children, youth, cohort studies

Papers

Growing Up in Ireland – A New Birth Cohort

Ms Bridget Hearne (CSO) - Presenting Author

Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of young people and children in Ireland. This landmark study represents a very significant investment by the Irish State in high quality research and data on the lives of children, young people and their families. GUI is a principal data source for issues facing children and young people in Ireland today to inform effective and responsive policy making and service development. The main survey themes are: education and cognitive development, physical health and well-being, socio-emotional well-being, sociodemographic factors and family structure; relationships, and social participation.
GUI was originally established to track over 20,000 children and families from two cohorts: an infant group and a child group. In the 16 years that have now passed since the original infant cohort was recruited, Ireland has undergone significant demographic, social, and economic change.
In 2022 the decision was made to increase the size of GUI to include an additional birth cohort, Cohort ’24, to understand the impact of these changes in Irish society on the development and outcomes for children in Ireland.
Cohort ’24 will involve the recruitment of a new set of 9 month old babies (born in 2024) and will be comparable in scale to the existing (Cohort 08) infant cohort.
To facilitate the development of the survey instrument for Cohort ’24 at 9 months, pilot data collection was undertaken throughout 2023. This extensive pilot trialed the key design elements of new cohort: the use of secondary data sources, data linkage and the harmonization with other data collections.
This paper will share the lessons learned from the Cohort ‘24 at 9 months pilot data collection as well as the impact these findings had on the Cohort ‘24 main data collection instrumentation, processes and procedures.

Navigating the Transition from Childhood to Adulthood: Engagement Strategies in the Millennium Cohort Study Age 23 Survey

Mrs Lucy Haselden (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL) - Presenting Author
Mr Matt Brown (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL)
Ms Michaela Sedovic (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL)
Professor Emla Fitzsimons (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL)
Dr Larissa Pople (Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL)
Mr Nicholas Gilby (Ipsos)
Mrs Kirsty Burston (Ipsos)

Many child/youth cohort studies aim to track participants into adulthood. The transition from childhood to adulthood presents challenges due to shifts in participants' priorities, increased mobility, and reduced family involvement. As young adults gain independence, maintaining their engagement requires adapting strategies to ensure continued participation.

The UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a multi-disciplinary longitudinal study following the lives of approximately 19,000 children born between 2000 and 2002 across the UK. Seven major waves of data collection took place between 2001 and 2018, when study members were 17. Fieldwork for the eighth wave, the Age 23 Survey, was recently completed.

The Age 23 Survey marks a key transition point for MCS. In prior waves, parents were integral, not only as interviewees but also as facilitators who played a key role in securing the participation of study members. However, at Age 23, parents are not interviewed, and study members are contacted independently for the first time. Participants are highly mobile and leading busy lives, so tracking them and maximizing engagement during this key phase of the study would be challenging.

This talk will provide an overview of the Age 23 Survey, focusing particularly on participant engagement strategies. We will discuss findings from qualitative research and a feedback survey conducted with participants prior to launch. These efforts aimed to understand the evolving needs and expectations of the cohort. We will describe how insights from this research informed study design choices, including survey mode, questionnaire content, contact strategies, incentives, and the development of communication materials.

We will discuss the key challenges encountered during fieldwork, the steps taken to address them and lessons learned. This talk will provide valuable insights for other studies navigating the transition into adulthood, highlighting effective strategies for maintaining participant engagement and ensuring high quality data collection.

A new longitudinal study of adolescence in England: Growing up in the 2020s

Dr Larissa Pople (UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies) - Presenting Author
Professor Emla Fitzsimons (UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies)
Professor Jess Deighton (Anna Freud)
Dr Tanya Lereya (Anna Freud)
Dr Jess Stepanous (Anna Freud)
Mr Nicholas Gilby (Ipsos)
Ms Julia Pye (Ipsos)
Ms Christy Lai (Ipsos)

Growing up in the 2020s is a new five-year longitudinal study of secondary-school children in England commissioned by the Department for Education and run in consortium by the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, the organisation Anna Freud and Ipsos. It is part of a series of national longitudinal studies that includes the Five to Twelve study of primary-school children and Children of the 2020s, focused on the first five years.

Growing Up in the 2020s will be a national barometer for the wellbeing and educational progress of young people in England throughout secondary school and beyond. Today’s adolescents face unique challenges compared to previous generations, growing up amid rapid technological advancements, shifting social norms, and global crises like climate change and rising mental health issues. Data from the study has the potential to inform prevention strategies to help identify those at risk of poorer outcomes early and ensure they are supported accordingly.

A sample of c20,000 children aged 12/13 years in England have been selected from the National Pupil Database, with a higher selection probability for pupils eligible for free school meals. Approximately 7,750 children and parents are expected to participate at wave 1 with approximately 4,000 paired child-parent interviews anticipated at wave 4. Wave 1 will be conducted face-to-face while waves 2-4 will use a sequential mixed mode approach (online>telephone at waves 2-3 and online>face-to-face at wave 4).

An innovative element is the Iris sub-study, which will track the internet usage of a sub-sample of c400 young people on their personal mobile phone for 4 weeks.

This presentation will provide an opportunity to learn more about this study, including its scientific objectives, the study design, questionnaire content and response rates.

Increasing response rates in youth longitudinal surveys: The case of GENERATION wave 3 and future plans

Professor Ben Edwards (Australian National University) - Presenting Author
Ms Kate Doery (Australian National University)
Dr Jessica Arnup (Australian National University)
Ms Natasha Vickers (Social Research Centre)
Mr Patrick Scott (Social Research Centre)

GENERATION is a cohort study following the journey of young Australians, as they transition to life beyond school. Youth are particularly difficult to main contact and obtain survey responses in longitudinal surveys as they undergo several life transitions over a short period of time that means that there is a high level of mobility and contact details can change. Moreover, longitudinal surveys usually show a similar pattern over time with some significant attrition between Wave 1 and 2, and then much smaller attrition over subsequent waves.

In this paper, we report on results from our Wave 3 survey where the number of youth surveyed increased by 14% (an increase of 495 surveys) using the same sequential mixed mode approach as in Wave 2. Wave 3 was characterised by different levels of response maximisation with the most engaged participants from prior waves receiving more emails and SMS reminders. All potential participants with a registered address also received a letter for the first time. For Wave 3 there was a key focus on the type of messaging informing young people of where how the information being used through engaging stories as well as placing a strong emphasis on their unique contribution.

The paper will systematically test potential explanations for the increased response rates, such the effectiveness of timing, sequence and messaging of emails and SMS for particular sub-groups in the survey, timing of the survey during the school year, maturity of students and other personality characteristics as well demographic characteristics of the students. We highlight broader lessons for the research community about engagement with youth.

Generation Victoria (GenV): from Establishment to Impact

Dr Susan Clifford (Murdoch Children's Research Institute) - Presenting Author
Ms Alisha Gülenç (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Mr William Siero (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Dr Elizabeth Hughes (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Mr Jatender Mohal (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Dr Tony Frugier (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Ms Naomi Schwarz (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Professor Richard Saffery (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Professor Sharon Goldfeld (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)
Professor Melissa Wake (Murdoch Children's Research Institute)

BACKGROUND: Generation Victoria (GenV) is Australia’s largest and most inclusive child and parent longitudinal cohort. With >123,000 participants to date, it's the only mega-cohort study capturing pregnancies and births through the COVID19 pandemic. As GenV moves from its Establishment phase towards delivering impact, we share developments and opportunities for collaboration with other cohort studies.

PROGRESS TO DATE: Participant recruitment scaled up from one to 58 birthing hospital/sites over a 9-month Vanguard phase (Dec 2020-Oct 2021). Families of all babies born in Victoria (population 7 million) Oct 2021-Oct 2023 are invited to join. To date, >49,000 children, 49,000 mothers and 25,000 other parents/guardians have been recruited in >70 languages. Our cohort reflects Victoria’s cultural, economic, geographic and social diversity. Biosamples are collected directly from participants and through consented access to residual samples from routine pregnancy/prenatal healthcare tests, with initial bioanalyses underway. Data linkage to the first tranche of State Government datasets (inc. births, deaths, hospital admissions) is complete. Participant online surveys are completed or underway for 8 timepoints between child age 3m-3ys.

NEXT FIVE YEARS: Recruitment is always open to children born in the two-year birth window, including those who later move to Victoria. Our Intervention Hub will support dynamic trials within GenV from 2025. Richer data will be collected via linkage to Federal Government and clinical datasets, and additional surveys. The first data release is scheduled for 2026, launch of our Open Research Asset for 2027, and planning is underway for an Early School Assessment (first child and adult phenotyping wave, 2028-2029).

CONCLUSION: Following successful establishment, GenV is working to maximise its impact over the short and medium term. We will share progress and highlight collaboration opportunities with other cohorts for mutual benefit.