Australian Temperament Project
The Australian Temperament Project (ATP) is an ongoing, longitudinal study following young people's psychosocial development from infancy to adulthood, investigating the contribution of personal, family, peer and broader environmental factors to adjustment and wellbeing. Commencing in 1983, this internationally renowned study has so far collected 15 waves of data across the first 28 years of life. The ATP is investigating the development of problems such as learning difficulties, antisocial behaviour, substance abuse, anxiety and depression, as well as positive development including social competence, supportive family and peer relationships and civic participation.
Current initiatives
The ATP team is currently focusing on:
- the ATP Next Generation - a study of the experiences of ATP study members who have become parents
- a series of papers looking at positive development and civic engagement in early adulthood and the factors that promote it
- factors that are associated with risk-taking and adjustment difficulties in early adulthood (i.e. harmful alcohol use, depression)
- the contribution of childhood experiences (i.e. school bullying, child maltreatment) to later wellbeing and adjustment
- a series of reports focusing on risky driving behaviour in early adulthood
Latest publications
The Australian Temperament Project: The first 30 years
ATP report: This report highlights some key learnings about human development from the Australian Temperament Project (ATP) - a groundbreaking longitudinal study that, to date, has followed a large group of Victorians from their birth to age 30 years.
Stability and change in risky driving from the late teens to the late twenties
AIFS research paper No. 51: This paper, the product of a collaborative partnership between AIFS, the TAC and the RACV, uses data from the Australian Temperament Project to explore patterns of risky driving over time, and the factors associated with persistence and change in risky driving tendencies from the late teens to the late twenties
Find out about the ATP
Pathways from infancy to adolescence: Australian Temperament Project 1983-2000
The story of the ATP
Read about the aims of the study, how it started, and important findings from the first 18 years
Study members
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The Australian Temperament Project is a joint project between the Australian Institute of Family Studies, the Royal Children's Hospital, the University of Melbourne and Deakin University. The project is led and supported by the Australian Institute of Family Studies, and is also supported by a grant from the Australian Research Council.