{"id":2,"date":"2016-12-12T07:12:27","date_gmt":"2016-12-11T20:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.melbournechildrens.com\/atp\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-02-04T13:35:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:35:28","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.melbournechildrens.com\/atp\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Australian Temperament Project (ATP)<\/strong> is one of Australia\u2019s longest running studies of social and emotional development. The initial study sample comprised 2443 families from urban and rural areas of the state of Victoria. We recruited parents (Generation 1<\/strong>) and their children (Generation 2<\/strong>) at 4-8 months of age. We have followed these two generations for over\u202f4 decades, collecting 16 waves of data so far. Two in three families are still participating after 41 years.<\/span><\/p>\n

I<\/span><\/span>n <\/span>2012<\/span> a new phase of ATP was launched: the Generation 3<\/strong> study. Children born to Generation 2 participants were invited to take part in the Generation 3 study. This important and unique study allows us to answer questions about how the experiences of one generation affect the next.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are now entering an exciting new phase looking at health and wellbeing in mid and later life, and how this may be impacted by factors from earlier in life. From 2025, all Gen1 and Gen2 participants are invited to take part in the Wellbeing Survey<\/strong>. The ATP Health Check<\/strong>, a series of activities that assesses physical and cognitive health, is also underway. This new series of research will help answer questions about how experiences shape our health and future generations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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ATP has published over 200 papers<\/a> <\/strong>on aspects of social and emotional\u00a0development from childhood to adulthood, with findings broadly translated into practice, policy and educational settings.<\/p>\n

ATP has also influenced the development of other longitudinal studies both overseas and within Australia. For example, the Tracking Opportunities and Problems<\/a>\u202fstudy in Norway, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (Growing Up in Australia<\/a>), the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (Footprints in Time<\/a>). ATP also informed the ABC television series Life@ Series on child social and emotional development.<\/p>\n

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Interactive Study Diagram<\/a><\/h4>\n

Participant and family assessments can be explored in detail at:<\/span>\u202f<\/span><\/a>LifeCourse Generation 1 & 2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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I<\/span><\/span>n <\/span>2012<\/span> a new phase of ATP was launched: the Generation 3 study. Children born to Generation 2 participants were invited to take part in the Generation 3 study.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The study looks at social and emotional health of parents and their child during pregnancy, when the baby is born, and then at 8 weeks, 1, 4, and 9 years of age. We ask participants about their mental health, parent-offspring bonding, and offspring social-emotional development. Some participants have participated in clinical assessments including foetal brain development and parent-child attachment behaviour. DNA has also been collected. The study looks at contextual, relational and individual risk and protective factors.<\/p>\n

ATP is one of the few studies worldwide that is following the social and emotional development across three generations. It offers a unique opportunity to explore how patterns of health and wellbeing in one generation shape the patterns of health and wellbeing in future generations.<\/p>\n

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The image below shows the year that each ‘wave’ of data collection was undertaken, as well as the inception and follow up of the Generation 3 cohort.<\/p>\n

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The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) is one of Australia\u2019s longest running studies of social and emotional development. The initial study sample comprised 2443 families from urban and rural areas of the state of Victoria. We recruited parents (Generation 1) and their children (Generation 2) at 4-8 months of age. We have followed these two generations … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAbout - The Australian Temperament Project<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.melbournechildrens.com\/atp\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - The Australian Temperament Project\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) is one of Australia\u2019s longest running studies of social and emotional development. 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