Clinical Research Unit on Children's Psychosocial Maladjustment

The Quebec Longitudinal Study of Kindergarten Children (QLSKC)

It has become increasingly clear that academic success is a prerequisite for integration in the work force, as for well as health and well-being. The problems that lead to school failure and to psychosocial adjustment problems often appear in kindergarten. In order to understand the development of these problems and their consequences, we must conduct longitudinal studies of representative samples of children, with repeated measures at regular intervals.

Objectives

1. To describe the different developmental trajectories among children from their entry into kindergarten to their entry into the work force.
2. To identify the factors that enable us to recognize, from kindergarten, those children who are at risk of developing adjustment problems over the course of their schooling education.
3. To identify the protective factors that will enable children to succeed in school and to adapt well socially, in spite of unfavorable elements in their environment.
4. To contribute to the knowedge necessary for the development of programs adapted to high risk children.

Subjects (sample)

A sample of 3018 children, representative of the boys and girls who attended kindergarten in a francophone public school in the province of Quebec in the 1986-87 and 1987-88 school years. The subjects were chosen randomly and proportionally according to the 11 administrative regions of Québec. These children were evaluated yearly by teachers and parents (mothers) between the ages of 6 and 12. In 1993 and 1994 a subsample of children, then 13 years of age, responded to a questionnaire on young adolescents' lifestyles. At 15 years of age, 931 girls, 903 boys and 1830 mothers were interviewed.