Preschool attendance and developmental outcomes at age five in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children: a population-based cohort study of 100 357 Australian children

Kathleen Falster; Mark Hanly; Ben Edwards; Emily Banks; John W Lynch; Sandra Eades; Nathan Nickel; Sharon Goldfeld; Nicholas Biddle

Journal article

Preschool attendance and developmental outcomes at age five in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children: a population-based cohort study of 100 357 Australian children

Kathleen Falster, Mark Hanly, Ben Edwards, Emily Banks, John W Lynch, Sandra Eades, Nathan Nickel, Sharon Goldfeld, Nicholas Biddle

JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH | BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2021

DOI: 10.1136/jech-2020-214672

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Policies to increase Australian Indigenous children's participation in preschool aim to reduce developmental inequities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. This study aims to understand the benefits of preschool participation by quantifying the association between preschool participation in the year before school and developmental outcomes at age five in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. METHODS: We used data from perinatal, hospital, birth registration and school enrolment records, and the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), for 7384 Indigenous and 95 104 non-Indigenous children who started school in New South Wales, Australia in 2009/2012. Preschool in..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Sharon Goldfeld Author Paediatrics Royal Children's Hospital

Sandra Eades Author Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

Grants

Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC)

Awarded by NHMRC Early Career Fellowship

Awarded by NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence

Awarded by NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship

Awarded by NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence

Awarded by NHMRC Career Development Fellowship

Awarded by NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship

Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Project Grant (#1061713). KF was supported by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (#1016475). MJH received support from an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence (#1135273). EB was supported by an NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship (#1136128). JL received support from an NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence (#1099422). SE was supported by an NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (#1013418). SG was supported by an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (#1155290). The funding agencies had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.