The Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso)

2004-2022, next survey planned 2026

City of Zurich Target population consists of all first-graders in public schools of the City of Zurich in the school year 2004/5 (2,514 children in 89 schools). At wave 8 (age 20), the vast majority of active participants were still living in the city of Zurich (82.2%) or in other parts of the canton of Zurich (13.3%). 3% were living in other Swiss cantons, and 1.5% abroad.

The Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso) is a prospective-longitudinal study that was launched in 2004 in response to the need for a better evidence base to support optimal child social development and prevent crime and violence. Since then, the study has explored the life course of a cohort of 1,675 children in the target population from age 7 (n = 1,360) to age 24 (n = 1,160), with primary data collection waves at ages 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, and 24 (see Ribeaud et al. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-022-00195-x, for the sampling procedure). The study has been built on multi-method, multi-informant design that combines child/youth/young adult, teacher, and parent surveys. The large and ethnically diverse sample, the dense sequence of assessments with multiple-informant data, the high retention rate, and the combination of measurement domains make z-proso an important resource for innovative research nationally and internationally. z-proso project website: https://www.jacobscenter.uzh.ch/en/research/zproso.html

Analyses of the data have contributed important evidence to a variety of topics in child and adolescent development, investigating the developmental roots of crime and aggression, the impacts of different forms and combinations of victimisation, and development of mental health and neurodevelopmental symptoms.