The 2015 Middle Childhood Survey (MCS) of mental health and well-being at age 11 years in an Australian population cohort

Abstract

PurposeThe Middle Childhood Survey (MCS) was designed as a computerised self-report assessment of children’s mental health and well-being at approximately 11 years of age, conducted with a population cohort of 87 026 children being studied longitudinally within the New South Wales (NSW) Child Development Study.ParticipantsSchool Principals provided written consent for teachers to administer the MCS in class to year 6 students at 829 NSW schools (35.0% of eligible schools). Parent or child opt-outs from participation were received for 4.3% of children, and MCS data obtained from 27 808 children (mean age 11.5 years, SD 0.5; 49.5% female), representing 85.9% of students at participating schools.Findings to dateDemographic characteristics of participating schools and children are representative of the NSW population. Children completed items measuring Social Integration, Prosocial Behaviour, Peer Relationship Problems, Supportive Relationships (at Home, School and in the Community), Empathy, Emotional Symptoms, Conduct Problems, Aggression, Attention, Inhibitory Control, Hyperactivity-Inattention, Total Difficulties (internalising and externalising psychopathology), Perceptual Sensitivity, Psychotic-Like Experiences, Personality, Self-esteem, Daytime Sleepiness and Connection to Nature. Distributions of responses on each item and construct demarcate competencies and vulnerabilities within the population: most children report mental health and well-being, but the population distribution spanned the full range of possible scores on every construct.Future plansMultiagency, intergenerational linkage of the MCS data with health, education, child protection, justice and early childhood development records took place late in 2016. Linked data were used to elucidate patterns of risk and protection across early and middle child development, and these data will provide a foundation for future record linkages in the cohort that will track mental and physical health, social and educational/occupational outcomes into adolescence and early adulthood.

Population profiles of child‐reported psychotic‐like experiences and their differential association with other psychopathologies

“…Of 32,389 children enrolled at these schools, 27,808 (85.9%) participated; opt‐outs were received from 816 children and 573 parents, and 3,192 children did not participate for other reasons (e.g., absence from school or technical failure). On a range of socio‐demographic indicators, these participating schools and children were determined to be representative of the population of NSW schools and children of this age (see Laurens et al ., ). Ethical approval for the MCS was obtained from the University of NSW Human Research Ethics Committee (reference HC14307) and the NSW Department of Education's State Education Research Applications Process (reference 2015082).…”

“…Children rated the items on a 3‐point response scale: Not True (scored 1 for LCA), Somewhat True (2), and Certainly True (3). The nine items have excellent ordinal alpha reliability ( α = .90; Laurens et al ., ). Criterion validity of self‐reported PLEs assessed by questionnaire in 11–13‐year‐old children relative to symptoms validated by clinical interview has been established (Kelleher, Harley, Murtagh, & Cannon, ), with greatest predictive power for auditory and visual hallucinations, and paranoid ideas (these items accurately predict clinician‐rated symptoms at interview for at least four in five children).…”

“…This study used self‐reported responses from children aged 11–12 years to a subset of items administered within the online 2015 Middle Childhood Survey (MCS) of mental health and well‐being (Laurens et al ., ), conducted with the New South Wales Child Development Study (NSW‐CDS) population cohort (Carr et al ., ; Green et al ., ). Children were recruited via a two‐stage process.…”

The Survey of School Promotion of Emotional and Social Health (SSPESH): A Brief Measure of the Implementation of Whole-School Mental Health Promotion

“…It also aims to identify new opportunities for detecting and mitigating early vulnerability for ill-health and other adverse outcomes. In 2015, the investigator team administered online a self-report survey of mental health and wellbeing to a subsample of children in the NSW-CDS cohort (the Middle Childhood Survey; MCS), via 829 primary (elementary) schools in NSW (Laurens et al, 2017). MCS data were obtained from 27,792 children aged approximately 11 years of age during their final year of primary schooling (Year 6 in NSW).…”

“…It offers the opportunity to address the question: Does whole-school mental health promotion make a difference to the social, emotional, behavioural and educational outcomes of children? Such work is envisaged to occur within the NSW-CDS cohort (Carr et al, 2016; in press), via linkage to the self-reported Middle Childhood Survey mental health and wellbeing outcomes gathered from children at approximately 11 years of age, in their final year of primary schooling (Laurens et al, 2017), as well as multi-agency administrative records (Carr et al, 2016;Green et al, in press). Accordingly, examining the relationship between the SSPESH and student social emotional health over time is beyond the scope of the present paper, but will be explored in subsequent manuscripts from the study.…”