About

Children growing up in families with relatively lower socioeconomic standing are at greater risk of adverse social, cognitive and physical health outcomes. These disparities are shaped by a diverse range of social and structural factors, including greater exposure to stressed family relationships, social and economic exclusion and the biological embedding of stress that can impact children’s development over time.

This international collaboration, based out of Australia and New Zealand, investigates the extent to which preconception parental life histories — things that happen in a person’s life before they became a parent — predict their children’s early health and development.

We are using pooled data and cross-cohort replication analyses across three multi-generational cohort studies to investigate rare exposures and outcomes, including patterns of pre-conception substance use and mental health and their impacts on the next generation’s social emotional, and cognitive development.

Principal Investigator

• Dr. Kimberly Thomson, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University

Project Partners

• Australia-New Zealand Intergenerational Cohort Consortium:
  • Deakin University
  • Australian National University
  • Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
  • University of Otago
  • University of Melbourne
  • University of New South Wales

Publications

• Letcher, P., Greenwood, C. J., Macdonald, J. A., Ryan, J., O’Connor, M., Thomson, K. C., Biden, E., Painter, F., Olsson, C., Edwards, B., McIntosh, J., Spry, E. A., Hutchinson, D., Cleary, J., Slade, T., & Olsson, C. A. (2024). Life course predictors of child emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a prospective intergenerational cohort study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13995
• Olsson, C. A., Letcher, P., & Thomson, K. C. (2024, July). Preconception origins of child mental health and wellbeing: Cross cohort insights from three Australasian intergenerational cohort studies [Webinar]. Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY), Melbourne, Australia.
• Olsson, C. A., Spry, E., Letcher, P., McAnally, H., Thomson, K. C., Macdonald, J., Greenwood, C., Youssef, G., Romaniuk, H., Iosua, E., & Sligo, J. (2020). The Australian and New Zealand Intergenerational Cohort Consortium: A study protocol for investigating mental health and well-being across generations. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 11(2), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.1332/175795920X15792720930280
• Thomson, K. C., Greenwood, C. J., Letcher, P., Spry, E. A., Macdonald, J. A., McAnally, H. M., Hines, L. A., Youssef, G. J., McIntosh, J. E., Hutchinson, D., & Hancox, R. J. (2021). Continuities in maternal substance use from early adolescence to parenthood: Findings from the intergenerational cohort consortium. Psychological Medicine, 51(16), 2851–2860. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291721003925
• Thomson, K. C., Romaniuk, H., Greenwood, C., Letcher, P., Spry, E., Macdonald, J. A., McAnally, H. M., Youssef, G. J., McIntosh, J., Hutchinson, D., Hancox, R. J., Patton, G. C., & Olsson, C. A. (2021). Adolescent antecedents of maternal and paternal perinatal depression: A 36-year prospective cohort. Psychological Medicine, 51(12), 2126–2133. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720000902

Learn More

• Studying mental health across the lifecourse (SEED Lifespan, Deakin University)