About Us > What We Do > Kids, Families and Places Study

Kids, Families and Places Study

Children grow up in a multi-layered and complex social world. The Kids, Families and Places study examines first, the simultaneous influence of neighbourhood, family and childcare contexts on preschool children's development and second, the biological and behavioural characteristics of children that modify how children react to these environments. This is the first study worldwide to examine children's development in a nested, multilevel framework, going from the biology of the individual to the neighbourhoods and schools in which children grow up.

Over 650 families in Toronto and Hamilton are taking part. All these families have a newborn and at least one older sibling. We are continuing to visit families until the newborn reaches school age. Some families are visited twice and a smaller number of families (about 450) are visited four times in order that we can collect more detailed information as children acquire new skills.

Research on early childhood is receiving considerable attention at present. This is because there is strong evidence to show that early experiences shape lifelong biology and development. We are interested in experiences in families, childcare settings and neighbourhoods that shape children.

This study is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

• Link to the Kids, Families & Places Study website