National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth

Description: The purpose of this survey is to determine the critical factors influencing the growth and development of Canadian children. The survey has three components; In 1994, a longitudinal cohort of children aged between 0-11 years old was introduced. This cohort will be followed every two years until the chidlren reach adulthood (age 25). Starting in 1996, new cohorts of young children have also been introduced. These new cohorts cover children aged 0-1 and once again, information will be collected every two years, until the children reach the age of 5. These mini-cohorts should give a better measures for understanding the early years. A new cohort is introduced every two years, and every four years, the cohort of one year olds is large enough to allow provincial estimates. Finally, the third component is the community component. Those are five-year projects done on children in kindergarten. By contrast to the main survey, the community is the longitudinal unit of analysis in those projects. The projects will assess the impact of the community on child development, and will also provide information at the community level. The survey is administered at year 1 and year 5 of the community project. Currently, six communities participate in this project.

Who/what is surveyed: Information is collected about children. However, in order to have a good understanding of children, information is gathered from various sources including: the person most knowledgeable about the child and his/her spouse, the teacher of the child, the school principal (with parental consent only). Children also participate in testing, and, when they reach the age of 10 years or more, they are asked to complete a questionnaire.

How the data is collected: Computer-assisted personal interviews, mail-out/mail-back questionnaires (school component)

Geographic detail: Canada, provinces and territories

Demographic detail: date of birth, sex, marital status, household relationships

Information collected:
Household demographics: date of birth, sex, marital status, relationships
Dwelling characteristics
Ethno-cultural characteristics
Labour force activity (last 12 months)
Main activity
Employment
Employment income
Sources and amount of household income

Parent questionnaire: general health, smoking, alcohol consumption, maternal history, depression, family functioning, marital satisfaction, neighbourhood characteristics, social support

Children's questionnaire: health status, height, weight, activity, injuries, health conditions, activity limitation, infections, contacts with health professionals, medications, medical/biological (perinatal) information, mother's prenatal health and habits, birth and delivery details, schooling, school history, languages, progress in school, behaviour, parent expectations, literacy, activities, general behaviour, motor and social development, relationships with family and friends, family and custody history, child care arrangements, interviewer neighbourhood observation,

Tests: Peabody picture vocabulary test, Who Am I, Number Knowledge, Ages and Stages

Self-complete questionnaires (10 years and older): relationships with family, parents, teachers, perception of self, feelings and behaviours, puberty, smoking, drinking and drugs, activities

Teacher's questionnaire: student's education, grades and educational history, academic performance and potential, subjects and languages of instruction, student's social and personal skills, academic strengths and weaknesses, special education, student's behaviour and absences, parental involvement, class characteristics and teaching practices, perceptions of school, personal information on teacher

Principal's questionnaire: students in school, parental involvement, school characteristics, perceptions of school, personal information on principal

Skill indicator (home)
Mathematics computation (school)
Reading comprehension (school)
Literacy measure (home)

Frequency: Biennial

Sample size:
17,000 persons (longitudinal cohort)
18,000 children ("understanding early years" cohort)
3,500 children (community projects)

Data availability: Cycle 1 and cycle 2 have been released
The public use micro-data files are cross-sectional files only and they do not link the self-complete or the teacher/principal information with the parent information.

Reference period: Depends on the section, but usually, the last year

Release dates:
Cycle 3 community North York : June 2000
(Cycle 1 and cycle 2 have been released)
Cycle 3 planned release 1 : October 2000
Cycle 3 planned release 2 : March 2001

Responsible division: Special Surveys