I have a teenager but their other parent is a Study Member

The Next Generation Study data collection has now ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing significant delays, in addition to lack of funding. 

If your teenager is between 15 and 17, someone from the Next Generation Study may contact the Study Member parent to talk about your family's participation in the study. If you don’t hear from us, we apologise and hope to be in contact at some point around mid-2020, depending on funding.

If you are the primary caregiver and the Study Member is happy for us to contact you, we will give you a phone call to tell you about the Next Generation Study. At the same time, we will contact your teenager. If you are interested in participating, you will be asked to bring your teen in to the Research Unit for an assessment day. This will last about the length of a school day, and your teenager will take part in a range of assessments. These include interviews with one of our interviewers, computer-administered questionnaires, health assessments (including blood pressure, lung function, height and weight), a brief (painless!) dental check, a fitness test on a bike, and some other tasks. The information sheet we will send you gives more detailed information about all these assessments.

We will also interview you, asking about your child, your relationship with them, their characteristics, skills, and personality, and talk about various events that have occurred over their life. The interview usually takes around an hour and a half, and then your part of the assessment is complete.

While you're having your interview, the young person will also be answering some questions. They will have a break at about the same time you finish your interview, and you are welcome to join them for morning tea. Then they will carry on with their assessment day, and we ask that you return around 3pm to pick them up. If you would like to stay at the unit during the rest of the day, there is a space available for you to use.

Meals will be provided, and we will discuss transport and accommodation requirements with you when we initially contact you.

If the Dunedin Study member is your teenager’s primary caregiver, you will not be required to come into the research unit. The Dunedin Study Member will do this, and we will ask their permission to contact you to take part in a telephone interview. The phone interview will take about half an hour, and we will talk about your child, your relationship with them, and ask a few questions about you. We will arrange this at a time convenient to you.

Any information you give us will be entirely confidential, and we will not share it with anyone else - including your family members.

If you have any questions, or would like to know more about the Next Generation Study, please contact the Manager, Helena McAnally, by email or phone 03 479 5553.