Growing Up in New Zealand. Now We Are 12: Methods

The Now We Are 12 (NWA12) series is a reflection of Growing Up in New Zealand's commitment to produce robust evidence that can be used to develop policies and programmes that will enhance the lives of young people and their whānau in Aotearoa New Zealand. Part of this commitment is ensuring that information provided is meaningful and relevant to the communities represented in this study. In NWA12 this included consistent reporting of data for the major ethnic groupings and with respect to the gender identity reported by young people themselves. This NWA12 methods report outlines the process that was used to engage with key government agencies in the development of topics for the NWA12 series. It also details the overarching approach that was used to analyse the 12-year data, both on its own (cross-sectional analysis) but, importantly, also in relation to earlier data collection waves (longitudinal analysis).