Exploring the relationship between relative school starting age, emotional development and ADHD diagnosis in England.

问题和最初的研究问题：研究文献表明，队列中相对最年轻的人更有可能表现出与ADHD相关的行为和症状，被诊断为ADHD并接受药物治疗。事实上，人们发现，他们的行为不那么顽固，更易怒，更不专心，更活跃，对变化的适应能力更差。此外，英格兰8月出生的儿童更有可能被诊断为有特殊教育需要，那些接受免费学校膳食的儿童受到的影响更大。文献表明，在年龄太小的时候接受非正规教育可能是导致ADHD的环境因素之一，而教师对ADHD症状的感知和认识可能会受到入学年龄差异的严重影响。因此，本项目提出了一种新颖而全面的英语数据分析，以更好地了解独特的英语语境，从而揭示情绪发展和ADHD诊断方面的不平等。分析将考虑母亲的最高教育水平作为一个调节因素。研究问题：1.当控制性别、社会经济背景和母亲的最高教育水平时，相对入学年龄如何影响通常与情绪发展有关的行为？这种影响会持续到青春期中后期吗？2.在8月出生和9月出生的儿童中，ADHD的患病率如何比较性别、社会经济背景、母亲最高教育水平和出生队列的差异？预期的方法和研究设计：使用定量方法的纵向分析将利用ESRC的两个纵向数据集来跟踪相对入学年龄对青春期中晚期情绪发育相关行为的持续性影响。该研究的重点将是千年队列研究(MCS)，因为它包括2001年出生的队列在9个月到17岁期间的多波心理健康数据。值得注意的是，这项研究的时机对于这一项目的背景来说是理想的，恰逢早期教育的所谓“学院化”。Next Steps研究只收集了14岁以后儿童的数据，但可以比较20世纪90年代初出生的青少年开始上学年龄对青少年的影响，这一群体出生在早期教育的“学院化”之前。这两项研究都与国家学生数据库的数据相关联，使关键阶段成就结果、特殊教育需求诊断和缺课的信息得以纳入。此外，该项目的一个重点是相对年龄在入学第一年表现为对未来互动和行为的潜在影响的方式。为此，从MCS队列的接待教师那里收集的早期基础阶段(EYFS)概况数据的分析将与出生月份相关。然后，将使用定量方法对复杂的个人轨迹进行建模，例如潜伏期生长曲线建模，以测试在EYFS个人资料中被评估为5岁时有社交和情绪发展问题的8月出生的儿童是否遵循与9月出生的同龄人相同的学习和情感轨迹。这项测试将让我们了解孩子在学年内出生的时间、他们进入并完成正规学校教育的年龄，以及他们感觉到的不成熟是否会影响长期的情感结果和学术生涯。然而，由于初始分数中涉及的测量误差可能会导致偏差，因此估计轨迹可能会很复杂。

Issues and Initial research question:Research literature indicates that the relatively youngest in a cohort are significantly more likely to exhibit behaviours and symptoms associated with, be diagnosed with and receive medication for ADHD. Indeed, they have been found to present as less persistent in behaviour, more irritable, inattentive, hyperactive and less adaptive to change. Furthermore, August-born children in England are more likely to be diagnosed with a special education need, with those in receipt of free school meals disproportionately impacted. Literature has indicated that exposure to informal schooling at too young an age could be contributing to the environmental factors causing ADHD, and that teacher perceptions and recognition of ADHD symptoms could be heavily influenced by differences in school starting age.Therefore, this project proposes a novel and comprehensive analysis of English data to provide greater understanding into the unique English context so to uncover the inequalities in emotional development and ADHD diagnosis. The analysis will include consideration of mother's highest level of education as a moderating factor. Neither this context for analysis nor this variable has previously been addressed within research literature.Research Questions:1. How does relative school starting age affect behaviours typically associated with emotional development, when controlling for gender, socio-economic background and mother's highest level of education? And does the affect persist into mid-to-late adolescence?2. How does the prevalence of ADHD diagnosis among August-born and September born children compare across differences in gender, socio-economic background, mother's highest level of education and birth cohort?Intended methodology and research design:A longitudinal analysis using quantitative methods will utilise two ESRC longitudinal datasets to track the persistence of relative school starting age effects on behaviours associated with emotional development into mid-to-late adolescence.The focal study will be the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) as it includes data on mental health at multiple waves from 9 months through age 17 for a cohort born in 2001. Significantly, the timing of this study is ideal for the context of this project, coinciding with the so called 'schoolification' of Early Years Education. The Next Steps Study only collected data on children from age 14 onwards but enables comparison of effects of school starting age on adolescents for a cohort born in the early 1990s, before the 'schoolification' of early education. Both studies have been linked to data from the National Pupil Database, enablingincorporation of information on Key Stage achievement outcomes, SEN diagnoses and school absences.In addition, a focus of the project is the way relative age manifests in the first year of schooling as a potential shaper of future interactions and behaviour. For this purpose, analysis of data from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) profile, collected from the Reception teachers of the MCS cohort, will be analysed in relation to month of birth. Then, Quantitative methods for modelling complex individual trajectories over time, such as latent growth curve modelling, will be used to test whether the August-born children assessed with social and emotional developmental issues at age 5 in the EYFS profile, follow the sameacademic and emotional trajectories as their September-born equivalents. This test will allow us to gain understanding into whether the timing of a child's birth within the school year, the age they enter and complete formal schooling and thus their perceived immaturity, effects long-term emotional outcomes and academic careers. However, estimating trajectories can be complicated because of the measurement error involved in the initial scores can lead to biases.