A snapshot of childhood disadvantage
08/08/2024
Children thrive when they have positive early childhood experiences in supportive environments. But when children experience disadvantage during early childhood, it can have a lasting effect on their health, development and wellbeing.
For this reason, reducing the impact of early life disadvantage is an increasing area of policy focus in Australia and around the world. Accurately measuring disadvantage experienced during early childhood allows us to understand the extent of the problem, tracking how it changes over time and identify areas where we can intervene. Disadvantage is complex and choosing appropriate measures of disadvantage is not straightforward.
A new report measuring the associations between indicators of disadvantage and child development has been published by the Changing Children’s Chances team in collaboration with the Australian Government Department of Education.
The study drew on data from the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA). PLIDA links large-scale Australian Government administrative data, capturing information about children’s social, economic and health circumstances over the first five years of life. The data is also linked to findings from the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), a teacher-reported population census that records the development of more than 300,000 children in the first year of full-time school across Australia.
Results showed that:
- 18 common disadvantage and priority population indicators, such as lower household income, parents' education, if their home was rented or overcrowded, whether the child experienced mental health issues, preschool non-attendance and English proficiency were associated with all five areas of development (physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills)
- The indicator flagging children who were not being regularly read to at home had the strongest association with vulnerability for all five areas of development
- Many children who are disadvantaged at the child-level don’t live in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
We found that more than 30% of families with low household income live in more advantaged neighbourhoods. This means that if we only targeted resources to the most disadvantaged areas, many children experiencing disadvantage would be missed. - Some child-level disadvantage indicators (such as lower household income and children not being regularly read to at home) are stronger predictors of developmental vulnerability than area-level disadvantage (where they live)
- A 10-indicator model was found to be the best predictor of developmental vulnerability on one or more key areas of development (Figure 1)
- Low sensitivity indicates there are unmeasured indicators that may contribute to developmental vulnerability on one or more key areas of development – this is an opportunity for future research.
Figure 1. A 10-indicator model was found to be the best predictor of developmental vulnerability on one or more key areas of development.
The reports shows that a wide range of complex factors shape inequities in children’s development. The findings provide guidance on specific indicators that may be used to identify and monitor children at risk of poor outcomes.
Early disadvantage has individual and societal costs, with impacts that are both immediate and lasting. While children’s experiences of disadvantage are complex and multifaceted, datasets can be valuable tools for assessing and monitoring children’s progress over time. Building a more holistic picture of the influences on children’s health, learning and wellbeing allows decision makers to better understand and address factors contributing to disadvantage. This will help inform action to optimise development during the crucial early years.
