The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (often referred to as the Dunedin Longitudinal Study) is a long-running cohort study of 1037 people born between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand.
History
The original group of study members was selected from children born at the Queen Mary Maternity Centre in Dunedin who were still living in the wider Otago region three years later. In early years the study was not well funded and the local community helped collect data. The study members include 535 males and 503 females, 1013 singletons and 12 sets of twins. At the age 38 assessment, only one-third of members still resided in Dunedin, while most of the remainder lived elsewhere in New Zealand and Australia. Study members were assessed at age three, and then at ages 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 21, 26, 32, 38, 40 and a future assessment is scheduled for age 50. "Phase 45" started in April 2017. Since 2000, Professor Richie Poulton has been the study's director.
During an assessment, study members are brought back to Dunedin from wherever in the world they live. They participate in a day of interviews, physical tests, dental examinations, blood tests, computer questionnaires and surveys. Sub-studies of the Dunedin Study include the Family Health History Study which involved the parents of Dunedin Study members to find out about the health of family members (2003–2006); the current Parenting Study which focuses on the Dunedin Study member and their first three-year-old child; and the Next Generation Study which involves the offspring of Dunedin Study members as they turn 15 and looks at the lifestyles, behaviours, attitudes and health of today's teenagers, and aims to see how these have changed from when the original Study Members were 15 (in 1987–88). This means that information across three generations of the same families will be available.
Great emphasis is placed on retention of study members. At the most recent (age 38) assessments, 96% of all living eligible study members, or 961 people, participated. This is unprecedented for a longitudinal study, with many others worldwide experiencing 20–40% drop-out rates.
The resulting database has produced a wealth of information on many aspects of human health and development. As of 2015 over 1,200 papers, reports, book chapters and other publications have been produced using findings from the study. The multidisciplinary aspect of the study has always been a central focus, with information ranging across:
- Cardiovascular health and risk factors
- Respiratory health
- Oral health
- Sexual and reproductive health
- Mental health
- Psychosocial functioning
- Other health, including sensory, musculo-skeletal, and digestive
A book, From Child to Adult: Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, was published in 1996 and aimed at presenting the major findings in a form accessible to the non-specialist. It only includes information up to the age-21 assessment. Future plans for the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study include another popular science book, upgrading their website for more non-specialist appeal, and introducing more resources for the general public.
This study was awarded the 2016 Prime Minister's Science Prize.
Findings
- Temperament. Girls who have behavioural problems as children have more trouble adjusting to early puberty.
- Personality continuities. Undercontrolled 3-year-olds tend to grow up impulsive and antisocial; inhibited 3-year-olds tend to become unassertive and depressed
- Violence and gender. Women are as likely as men to commit intimate partner violence.
- Schizophrenia. Hallucinations in childhood predict an increased risk of adult schizophrenia.
- Persistent offenders. People who are violent and antisocial as children grow into violent adults more often than those whose antisocial behaviour is limited to adolescence.
- Genes and environment. Among maltreated children, those who produce low levels of the enzyme monoamine oxidase A are more likely to become violent adults.
- Stress and illness. People who were abused as children have higher markers of inflammation, indicating an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease.
- Self-control. Childhood self-control predicts physical health, financial success, and a lack of criminal behaviour among adults.
- Cannabis. Long-term heavy cannabis use that begins in adolescence is linked to cognitive decline in adulthood.
- Early aging. Multiple indicators reveal signs of rapid physical and cognitive aging in some adults in their 30s.
- Social ills. 22 % cent of the cohort accounted for the bulk of welfare, medical, and insurance costs; fatherless child-rearing; and crime. Many had poor brain health at age 3.
- Mental health. Dunedin and other studies show that most people have at least one episode of mental illness during their lifetime.
Sources
- https://dunedinstudy.otago.ac.nz/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin_Multidisciplinary_Health_and_Development_Study
- https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/two-psychologists-followed-1000-new-zealanders-decades-here-s-what-they-found-about-how
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