From infancy to eight: How early maternal mental health, emotion reminiscing, and language shape children's mental health.

To test the transmission of mental health difficulties from mother to child, we examined mediation through emotion reminiscing conversations and child language. Maternal depression symptoms were measured at 9 months post-partum, and child mental health outcomes were measured at age 8 years. Emotion reminiscing conversations between 1,234 mother-child pairs (624 boys, 610 girls) were recorded as part of a large, diverse, longitudinal cohort .

Harti Hauora Tamariki: randomised controlled trial protocol for an opportunistic, holistic and family centred approach to improving outcomes for hospitalised children and their families in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Background: Health and wellbeing inequities between the Indigenous Māori and non-Māori populations in Aotearoa, New Zealand continue to be unresolved. Within this context, and of particular concern, hospitalisations for diseases of poverty are increasing for tamariki Māori (Māori children). To provide hospitalised tamariki Māori, and their whānau (families) comprehensive support, a wellbeing needs assessment; the Harti Hauora Tamariki Tool (The Harti tool) was developed.

Physical Conflict During Pregnancy: A Socioecological, Cross-Cultural Examination of Risk and Protective Factors for New Zealand Women.

Participants were 5,831 women in their third trimester of pregnancy, part of a large, longitudinal, pre-birth national cohort study. Women reported on their experience of pushing and shoving, throwing or breaking objects within their relationship over the past month. Univariable regression models examined the association of a large number of potential risk and protective factors.

The novel Group A Streptococcus antigen SpnA combined with bead-based immunoassay technology improves streptococcal serology for the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever.

Objectives: Streptococcal serology provides evidence of prior Group A Streptococcus (GAS) exposure, crucial to the diagnosis of acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis. However, current tests, which measure anti-streptolysin-O and anti-DNaseB antibodies, are limited by false positives in GAS endemic settings, and incompatible methodology requiring the two tests to be run in parallel. The objective was to improve streptococcal serology by combining the novel GAS antigen, SpnA, with streptolysin-O and DNaseB in a contemporary, bead-based immunoassay.

Enablers and barriers to secondary prophylaxis for rheumatic fever among Māori aged 14-21 in New Zealand: a framework method study.

Background: Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) rates have declined to near zero in nearly all developed countries. However, in New Zealand rates have not declined since the 1980s. Further, ARF diagnoses in New Zealand are inequitably distributed--occurring almost exclusively in Māori (the indigenous population) and Pacific children--with very low rates in the majority New Zealand European population.

Emergency department visits of young children and long-term exposure to neighbourhood smoke from household heating - The Growing Up in New Zealand child cohort study.

In developed countries, exposure to wood or coal smoke occurs predominantly from neighbourhood emissions arising from household heating. The effect of this exposure on child health is not well characterized. Within a birth cohort study in New Zealand we assessed healthcare events associated with exposure to neighbourhood smoke from household heating.

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire Very Short Form: An Item Response Theory Analysis of Infant Temperament in New Zealand.

The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form (IBQ-R VSF; Putnam, Helbig, Gartstein, Rothbart, & Leerkes, 2014 ) is a newly published measure of infant temperament with a 3-factor structure. Recently Peterson et al. ( 2017 ) suggested that a 5-factor structure (Positive Affectivity/Surgency, Negative Emotionality, Orienting Capacity, Affiliation/Regulation, and Fear) was more parsimonious and showed promising reliability and predictive validity in a large, diverse sample.

Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised Very Short Form: A New Factor Structure's Associations With Parenting Perceptions and Child Language Outcomes.

The Infant Behavior Questionnaire Revised-Very Short Form (IBQ-R VSF; Putnam, Helbig, Gartstein, Rothbart, & Leerkes, 2014 ) is a new publicly available measure of infant temperament measuring positive affectivity/surgency (PAS), negative emotionality (NEG), and orienting and regulatory capacity (ORC). Although the initial psychometric properties of the 3-factor model appear promising, it has not been administered to a large and diverse sample and its predictive validity has not been established. This study administered the IBQ-R VSF to a diverse sample of 5,639 mothers of infants aged between 23 and 52 weeks.

Maternal health in pregnancy and associations with adverse birth outcomes: Evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand.

Objective: To examine prospectively multiple indicators of pregnancy health and associations with adverse birth outcomes within a large, diverse sample of contemporary women.

Design: A cohort of pregnant women who gave birth during 2009-10.

Population: We enrolled a sample of 6822 pregnant New Zealand (NZ) women: 11% of all births in NZ during the recruitment period.

Serological Evidence of Immune Priming by Group A Streptococci in Patients with Acute Rheumatic Fever.

Acute rheumatic fever (ARF) is an autoimmune response to Group A Streptococcus (GAS) infection. Repeated GAS exposures are proposed to 'prime' the immune system for autoimmunity. This notion of immune-priming by multiple GAS infections was first postulated in the 1960s, but direct experimental evidence to support the hypothesis has been lacking.

Dietary Patterns in Pregnancy in New Zealand-Influence of Maternal Socio-Demographic, Health and Lifestyle Factors.

Exploration of dietary pattern associations within a multi-ethnic society context has been limited. We aimed to describe dietary patterns of 5664 pregnant women from the Growing Up in New Zealand study, and investigate associations between these patterns and maternal socio-demographic, place of birth, health and lifestyle factors. Participants completed a food frequency questionnaire prior to the birth of their child.

Antenatal immunisation intentions of expectant parents: Relationship to immunisation timeliness during infancy.

Background: Most women decide about infant immunisation during pregnancy. However, we have limited knowledge of the immunisation intentions of their partners. We aimed to describe what pregnant women and their partners intended for their future child's immunisations, and to identify associations between parental intentions and the subsequent timeliness of infant immunisation.

Provider engagement and choice in the Lead Maternity Carer System: Evidence from Growing Up in New Zealand.

Background: New Zealand (NZ) has a unique choice-based model of maternity care.

Aims: To examine how engagement in antenatal care and choice of Lead Maternity Care provider (LMC) vary with maternal demographics.

Materials And Methods: Our sample consisted of 6822 women enrolled during 2009 and 2010 into a longitudinal cohort study Growing Up in New Zealand.

Early engagement with a Lead Maternity Carer: results from Growing Up in New Zealand.

Background: Timely engagement in antenatal care improves maternal and child health outcomes and is an important element of healthcare performance measurement.

Aims: To describe the timeliness of lead maternity carer (LMC) engagement and identify the factors associated with timely engagement.

Materials And Methods: The Growing Up in New Zealand longitudinal study enrolled a diverse sample of pregnant women during 2009 and 2010.

Maternal and perinatal predictors of newborn iron status.

Aim: To describe iron status at birth in a population sample of children.

Method: Cord blood samples were obtained at birth from 131 infants enrolled in the cohort study Growing Up in New Zealand. Cord blood serum ferritin (SF) and haemoglobin (Hb) concentrations were measured and associations of SF and Hb with maternal and birth characteristics were determined.

How do you recruit and retain a prebirth cohort? Lessons learnt from growing up in New Zealand.

Growing Up in New Zealand, a longitudinal study following nearly 7,000 children, has faced some unique challenges in identifying, enrolling, and retaining a large and diverse antenatal cohort. Identification of a study region with population demographics that enabled enrollment of an appropriately diverse sample was required as was intensive community and participant engagement in order to promote the study. Complementary methods used included direct engagement with prospective participants and the community and indirect engagement via media.