“Now We Are Four” - latest report from Growing Up in New Zealand study released
The latest report from the University of Auckland’s Growing Up in New Zealand study shows a rise in obesity levels in
the preschool children in the study, but a significant gap between parental perception of weight and the reality of
their child’s weight according to international classifications of BMI.
“Now We Are Four: Describing the preschool years” continues the “Now We Are” series of reports, building on the findings
from the “Before We Are Born”, “Now We Are Born” and “Now We Are Two” reports. The report draws on a number of data
collection waves which capture key transitions for the children between the ages of two and four years.
As well as weight, the report also flags an increase in the children’s screen time, and a rise in the consumption of
soft drinks.
Growing Up in New Zealand study Director, Associate Professor Susan Morton says the report reveals increasing rates of overweight and obesity,
with a total of 14 percent of the cohort meeting the criteria for being overweight or obese, reflecting what is seen
across New Zealand’s child population overall.
“The burden of overweight is not evenly spread across all ethnic groups,” says Dr Morton. “However, many parents do not
see body weight as a problem for their own child.”
Of those children who were overweight or obese, 73 percent were perceived by their mother to be of normal weight. In
addition, approximately 10 percent of the children who were of normal weight were perceived by their mother to be
underweight.
Weight and obesity was also linked to screen time and diet. Approximately four out of five cohort children were regular
media users, with the average time “on screen” for four year olds being just greater than two hours per day. Children
who were overweight or obese engaged in more screen time than children of normal weight.
Children who were overweight or obese drank soft drinks more regularly (69 percent) than children who were underweight
or of normal weight (56 percent).
However, Dr Morton says that at age four the children were generally happy, healthy and living in caring supportive
families.
“At this age almost all the children were attending some form of early childhood education and most mothers felt their
child was well prepared to enter primary schooling. We were concerned, however, to see that the freely available Before
School Check (which helps to assess children’s readiness for school) had not reached some of the most vulnerable
children at the time of the data collection.
“We also see changes for mothers around this time. When the children were four, two thirds of mothers were in paid
employment compared with around half of mothers when the children were two.”
The report highlights a number of other changes that have occurred for children and families between the ages of two and
four years across the domains of health and wellbeing, social and emotional development, family and whānau, education,
housing, and income and material hardship.
“Residential mobility has again been a factor in the lives of more than half the children,” says Dr Morton. “However
this mobility does not reflect a change in tenure. Approximately half the families are living as tenants in
predominantly private rental properties.
“Household crowding also remains common, with many cohort children sleeping in shared beds and bedrooms. This practice
is most apparent among Pacific and Asian families, however the extent to which this reflects choice or necessity is not
yet clear.
“Examining the four year old information alongside that collected during the first 1000 days we see significant changes
in individual measures of child behaviour. This flux at the individual level has implications both for identifying
at-risk children and for understanding what works to help to move individual children out of problem behavior
categories.”
Among other findings, “Now We Are Four” reports that fewer children were living in an extended family household at four
than at two years of age.
This reflects an increase in single parent households, with a greater proportion of Māori children living in single
parent households compared with other ethnic groups.
In addition, one in five mothers experienced depressive symptoms during or since pregnancy.
Complex social issues need good-quality evidence and decision-makers need to know what works. This research helps
increase the use of evidence by people across the social sector to inform better decisions.
The Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study provides a contemporary, population-relevant picture of what it is like to be a child growing up in
21st century New Zealand.
Growing Up in New Zealand is University of Auckland-led research funded by the Crown. Since 2013, Superu has managed the contract for Crown
funding for the Growing Up in New Zealand study and data collection.
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