About the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) – Phase 1 (1998-2002)

The Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD), principally funded by the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) (Ministry of Health and Social Services) during its first phase, was designed to advance our knowledge of child development. Its main objective has been to identify factors that, coming into play during early childhood, affect the social adjustment and academic performance of young Quebeckers.

The first round (i.e., the first year of Phase I) of the QLSCD was conducted in 1998 on a cohort of 2,120 Québec infants who were to be followed annually from 5 months to about 4 years of age. This representative sample included children (single births except highly premature) born to mothers residing in Québec in 1997-1998, with the exception of Nord-du-Québec, Nunavik and Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James.

So far, the data collected during this first phase (1998-2002) have enabled researchers to evaluate the influence of particular milieus (family, child care and the broader social environment) on various aspects of well-being. For instance, quite a few studies dealing with health, development (motor, social and cognitive), behaviour, diet, sleep, the family and economic environment, use of child care, etc., have already been performed. The publication of several of these was underwritten by the Direction Santé Québec (DSQ) of the Institut de la statistique du Québec (see the 24 issues published in the first two volumes of the QLSCD collection, which appeared in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003, and the four fascicles of volume 3, which appeared in 2004 and 2005). Note that the researchers, students and professionals working on this project are now pursuing a number of projects that use data collected during the first phase of the study.

 

Read the themes of the first phase (in French only)

Updated: December 14, 2012