Senior Research Fellow
BSc (Hons), PhD (Psychology)
Tess is a Senior Research Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute with a background in Psychology and Statistics, and holds an adjunct Senior Lecturer position in the School of Public Health at the University of Adelaide.
Tess has research interests in the social and emotional wellbeing, school engagement, development and academic achievement of children and adolescents. Her research is primarily quantitative and utilises large, population-level datasets including the South Australian Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC), the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC), and the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). She has a strong interest in psychometrics and measurement.
Over the past 10 years, Dr Gregory has been closely involved in the development of the Wellbeing and Engagement Collection (WEC) - an annual census of student wellbeing and engagement conducted by the South Australian Department for Education. Almost 100,000 students participated in the WEC in 2019, and the WEC provide an incredibly rich dataset for researchers interested in the social and emotional wellbeing of children and adolescents. Tess works closely with policy makers in education departments across the country at a state/territory and federal government level through her work with the Australian Early Development Census.
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Projects
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Publications
March 2024
Early childhood education quality and child development in Lao PDR
Globally, as scale up of early childhood education (ECE) continues, monitoring ECE quality is imperative to promote service aspects that drive positive outcomes for children. Monitoring of ECE quality in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is scarce, limited by challenges in varied conceptualisations of quality, lack of measurement tools that reflect local culture and context, and implementation difficulties in low resource settings.
Published research Early Childhood Development School Attendance Early Years SystemsMarch 2024Screen Time and Parent-Child Talk When Children Are Aged 12 to 36 Months
Growing up in a language-rich home environment is important for children's language development in the early years. The concept of "technoference" (technology-based interference) suggests that screen time may be interfering with opportunities for talk and interactions between parent and child; however, limited longitudinal evidence exists exploring this association.
Published research Early Childhood Development Language Development Technology & Kids Early Years SystemsApril 2024Mental health profiles and academic achievement in Australian school students
This study explored mental health profiles in Australian school students using indicators of well-being (i.e., optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness) and psychological distress (i.e., sadness and worries). The sample included 75,757 students (ages 8-18 years) who completed the 2019 South Australian Wellbeing and Engagement Collection.
Published research Early Neurodevelopment and Mental Health Youth mental health Early Years SystemsJuly 2023The relationship between early adolescent cyberbullying victimization and later emotional wellbeing and academic achievement
This study addresses a knowledge gap in the literature about early adolescent cyberbullying victimization and the related positive and negative emotional wellbeing and academic achievement outcomes experienced over time.
Published research Bullying School Attendance Youth mental health Early Years SystemsDecember 2022Clustering of Wellbeing, Engagement and Academic Outcomes in Australian Primary Schools
The mental health and wellbeing of young people has important consequences for students and society. Schools are a logical environment for management and early intervention of wellbeing, mental health and engagement with school. Interventions aimed at improving mental health and wellbeing in education systems requires knowledge of how wellbeing is clustered at a school level. Cluster-randomised trials, and regression analyses of such data also require knowledge of clustering.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Youth mental healthOctober 2022The Relationship Between Traditional and Cyber Bullying Victimization in Early Adolescence and Emotional Wellbeing: A Cross-Sectional, Population-Based Study
Despite the wealth of knowledge about the impact of bullying victimization, information gaps exist about how traditional and cyber bullying in early adolescence is associated with emotional wellbeing, namely, indicators of positive wellbeing.
Published research Bullying Early Childhood DevelopmentApril 2022Prevalence of breakfast skipping among children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study
Interventions to promote breakfast consumption are a popular strategy to address early life inequalities. It is important to understand the epidemiology of children and adolescents who skip breakfast so that interventions and policy can be appropriately considered.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood Development NutritionFebruary 2022Prevalence of electronic device use before bed among Australian children and adolescents: a cross-sectional population level study
To understand the prevalence of children and adolescents’ electronic device use (EDU) in the hour before bed and identify sociodemographic groups that are at increased risk of problematic use.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Neurodevelopment and Mental HealthDecember 2021Breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional engagement at school: A cross-sectional population level study
Research on the consequences of breakfast skipping among students tends to focus on academic outcomes, rather than student wellbeing or engagement at school. This study investigated the association between breakfast skipping and cognitive and emotional aspects of school engagement.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Nutrition School AttendanceAugust 2021Basic epidemiology of wellbeing among children and adolescents: A cross-sectional population level study
Wellbeing and mental health are fundamental rights of children and adolescents essential for sustainable development. Understanding the epidemiology of child and adolescent wellbeing is essential to informing population health approaches to improving wellbeing and preventing mental illness.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education School Attendance Early Neurodevelopment and Mental Health Youth mental healthJune 2021Data Resource Profile: The South Australian Well-being and Engagement Collection (WEC)
Mental health and well-being during childhood and adolescence have been shown to impact on health, educational attainment and employment in adulthood.1–3 Although health and education systems worldwide have long recognized the importance of promoting student well-being,4–6 population-wide monitoring of well-being remains uncommon.
Published research Child Health, Development & EducationMay 2021The Impact of Bullying Victimization in Early Adolescence on Subsequent Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes across the Adolescent Period: A Systematic Review
Bullying is a widespread global issue, with serious consequences for victimized individuals. The current systematic review is the first to explore the consequences of bullying in early adolescence on psychological and academic functioning across the adolescent period. Five databases were examined, yielding 28 relevant studies.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education BullyingNovember 2020Inequalities in child development at school entry: A repeated cross-sectional analysis of the Australian Early Development Census 2009-2018
Australia is the only developed country to consistently undertake a developmental census of its children nationwide. The repeated collection of the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) has provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine the prevalence of developmental vulnerability across Australia's states and territories, the socio-economic distribution of developmental vulnerability across jurisdictions, and how these distributions might have changed over time.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood Development School AttendanceSeptember 2020The role of social support in differentiating trajectories of adolescent depressed mood
This study explored the extent to which disaggregated support from family, peers, close friendships, teachers, and schools predicted membership into identified, sex-specific trajectories of depressed mood in 3210 Australian adolescents (49% females) based on self-report data collected at four annual time points from school Grade 6 to 9 (ages 10–16).
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentAugust 2020Associations between School Readiness and Student Wellbeing: A Six-Year Follow Up Study
It is well established that children’s school readiness is associated with their later academic achievement, but less is known about whether school readiness is also associated with other measures of school success, such as students’ social and emotional wellbeing. While some previous research has shown a link between early social and emotional development and student wellbeing, results are mixed and the strength of these relationships vary depending on whether data is based on child, teachers or parents ratings and which specific student wellbeing outcomes are measured.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood Development School AttendanceJune 2020Measuring early child development in low and middle income countries: Investigating the validity of the early Human Capability Index
Inclusion of early child development in the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda raises issues of how this goal should be monitored, particularly in low resource settings. The aim of this paper was to explore the validity of the early Human Capability Index (eHCI); a population measure designed to capture the holistic development of children aged 3-5 years. Convergent, divergent, discriminant and concurrent validity were examined by exploring the associations between eHCI domains and child (sex, age, stunting status, preschool attendance) and family (maternal education, home learning environment) characteristics. Analyses were repeated using data from seven low and middle income countries.
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentMay 2020Exploring Associations Between Playgroup Attendance and Early Childhood Development at School Entry in Australia: A Cross-Sectional Population-Level Study
Children who attended playgroup had better development at school entry relative to those who had not attended playgroup
Published research Child Health, Development & EducationDecember 2019Measuring early childhood development in multiple contexts: the internal factor structure and reliability of the early Human Capability Index in seven countries
Findings support the aims of the early Human Capability Index in being adaptable and applicable for use within a range of low and middle income countries
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentJune 2019The controlled direct effect of temperament at 2-3 years on cognitive and academic outcomes at 6-7 years
Overall, temperament had small associations with cognitive and academic outcomes after accounting for parenting and confounders
Published research Child Health, Development & EducationJune 2019Validity of the Middle Years Development Instrument for Population Monitoring of Student Wellbeing in Australian School Children
This paper reports on a five-year project to measure student wellbeing across an education system using the Middle Years Development Instrument
Published research Child Health, Development & EducationFebruary 2018The social impacts of mining on local communities in Australia
Mining developments are being required to consider how they affect local communities and implement strategies to minimise negative impacts they may be causing
Published research Child Health, Development & EducationSeptember 2017Gestational age and school achievement: A population study
We examined gestational age from preterm to post-term against a national minimum standard for academic achievement in population data.
Published research Child Health, Development & EducationFebruary 2017Associations of parental food-choice control and use of food to soothe with adiposity in childhood and adolescence
Higher parental control over food choice was associated with lower adiposity, but use of food to soothe was not associated with adiposity at ages 7 and 15
Published research Child Health, Development & Education NutritionJanuary 2016Exploring change in the Australian version of the Early Development Instrument
Calculating a critical difference for the percentage of children who are “at risk” and “on track” in addition to the children who are developmentally “vulnerable”
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentJanuary 2016It takes a village to raise a child: The influence and impact of playgroups across Australia
Comprehensive quantitative and qualitative evaluation of Community Playgroups across Australia
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentJanuary 2016Exploring local government areas with significant shifts in child development between 2009 and 2012 on the Australian Early Development Census
This project analysed AEDC results across Australia, to identify communities with significant improvement (decreases in developmental vulnerability) between 2009 and 2012
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentOctober 2015How many infants are temperamentally difficult?
In this letter, the authors respond to the commentary on Chong et al. “How many infants are temperamentally difficult?”; by correcting errors, & then...
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentApril 2014Data resource profile: The Australian early development index (AEDI)
This paper describes the Australian Early Development Index, a developmental census conducted by the Australian Government across the entire population of...
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentApril 2013Associations Between the Early Development Instrument at Age 5, and Reading and Numeracy Skills at Ages 8, 10 and 12: a Prospective Linked Data Study
The objective of this paper is to determine how well the EDI predicts a child's later literacy and numeracy outcomes as assessed by the National Assessment...
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentFebruary 2013Methodological approach to exploring change in the Australia Early Development Instrument (AEDI): The estimation of a critical difference
This report provides the technical details for the methodology calculated to determine "how big" a difference in the AEDI results between 2009 and 2012 is...
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood DevelopmentSeptember 2012Jurisdictional, socioeconomic and gender inequalities in child health and development:
Early child development may have important consequences for inequalities in health and well-being. This paper explores population level patterns of child...
Published research Child Health, Development & Education Early Childhood Development Human Development and Community Wellbeing -
Education and Qualifications
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