Survey description

At ages 5 to 7, three different surveys were conducted among children in the Elfe cohort.

The survey at 5.5 years is the fourth stage of follow-up by interviewing parents after the inclusion of Elfe children in the maternity ward. It consists of a telephone survey of both parents.

The main objectives of the telephone survey at 5.5 years of age were to update information on the child’s environment since the 3.5-year survey (family, social, economic, cultural, dietary, etc.), to ask parents about their educational and cultural practices, and to document the child’s psychomotor development and health events).

Based on the 18,041 families who had given their consent in the maternity ward, the 5.5-year telephone survey was carried out completely or incompletely on 11,335 families (63% of the 18,041 families initially included). This number represents 81% of the surveyable base, made up of families who had not left the study and lived in mainland France. In addition, 210 families, mainly living outside mainland France, took part in a minimum data collection questionnaire via the Internet or on paper.

The 5.5-year survey protocol and results

Weighting at the age of 5½ years

The available variables are described in the following document:

The telephone survey questionnaire

The national survey in "Cours Préparatoire" took place in the spring of 2018 using an address base of 8,114 schools collected during the 5.5-year telephone survey. To carry out the survey, teaching materials were sent to these schools, while families were given an envelope to hand over to their teacher, signifying their consent to the survey.

The survey was designed to collect four types of information:

• the teacher’s perception of the child’s learning, behaviour, specific health problems and care needs;
• the characteristics of the school, class and teacher;
• the child’s results in reading comprehension and counting tests;
• an assessment of self-esteem using a self-administered questionnaire.

The survey was conceived to involve the Elfe child and anonymously 3 other children from the same class.

Final participation in the survey amounted to 4,723 Elfe children (39% of the 12,215 Elfe children whose school address was known) and around 9,571 children from the same class.

Protocol and results of the "Cours Préparatoire" survey (available in French)

Children’s notebook for the "Cours Préparatoire" survey (available in French)

Teacher’s booklet for the "Cours Préparatoire" survey (available in French)

The available variables are described in the following document:

School survey questionnaire - "Cours Préparatoire" (available in French)

At the end of 2017, questionnaires were presented to ELFE children to investigate their tastes, perceptions of the social world and moral preferences. Prepared by sociologists associated with the project, they were conceived as a succession of images and audio messages, directly understandable by non-reading children. 4,207 children responded to these questionnaires.

Three quizzes were proposed, one after the other. The first one, "Activities", asks children about their preferences throughout the school day. The second one, "Animals", asks them about the moral qualities they associate with animals. The third one, "Games", invites them to rank various professions and trades.

The questionnaires were produced with the help of the Epiconcept team and the illustrator Bernadette Pons. For more information on these quizzes, plese visit: https://www.elfe-france.fr/en/document-library/survey-material/

Protocol and results of the 6-year survey (available in French)
Weighting for the 6-year survey (available in French)

The available variables are described in the following document:

6-year survey questionnaire (available in French)

The survey was carried out in the form of a questionnaire sent to parents via the Internet or, failing that, by post. 

The aim was to gather information that would be difficult to obtain during a telephone interview (dietary frequency, for example), or that would be particularly useful to repeat over time (weight and height growth).

The questionnaire had 3 sections: growth and puberty, diet, physical activity and cultural practices (of the parents). For this survey, the children were asked to draw a man as they had done when they were 3.5 years old. A documentation concerning the drawings produced will be made available at a later date.

This questionnaire was completed by 8,047 families, i.e. 62% of the 13,012 families that were contacted.

Survey protocol and results at 7,5 years (available in French)
Survey weighting at 7,5 years (available in French)

The available variables are described in the following document:

Survey questionnaire at 7,5 years (available in French)