The new study wave has been launched!

The oldest children in the Cohort '18 study have reached the age of five. The transition from pre-school to school is an important phase in children's development and a big change in the lives of families. Therefore, it is important to assess children's development, their daily lives and the lives of their families at this stage of their lives. Thanks to the longitudinal nature of the study, later we can evaluate these data in a broader context.

Who are we contacting?

The initial sample of the Cohort ’18 study consisted of babies born in Hungary between 1 April 2018 and 30 April 2019 and their families. In all previous waves, data was provided by the mother/primary caregiver of the child, collected by local health visitors or by professional interviewers. The latest survey was conducted between May 2021 and June 2022, when children were 3 years old. We will now contact the same families and ask the mothers to fill in an online questionnaire when the children turn five.

What types of data will we collect?

The online questionnaire will cover, among other aspects, the general, social and emotional development of the child, his/her sleeping and eating habits, media use, language skills, daily activities done with the child and different forms of grandparenting. We are also interested in the children's family environment and living conditions, such as household composition, the number of siblings, the mother's relationship status and subjective well-being, and the family's financial and labour market situation.

Previous research waves

So far, the families were contacted during pregnancy, and when the children were 6 months, 18 months and 3 years old. At the 18-month-old wave, fathers were also interviewed to find out about their parenting activities, the sharing of household and childcare tasks, perceptions of the father's role and difficulties in reconciling work and family life.

Around the age of 2.5 years of the children, telephone-interviews were conducted with the mothers to collect data specifically on their employment reintegration. We asked mothers how they organise their daily life, childcare and their working career after the end of the maternity allowance.

In cooperation with the University of Pécs, a psychological study was conducted among a sub-sample of 250 children at the age of one, focusing on child development.