Table 1.
Characteristics of children in the Kindergarten Health Check, 2014–2016
| Characteristic | Number | Per cent (95% CI) |
| Mean (SD) age on commencement (years) | 5.27 (0.31) | |
| Age at 30 April of enrolment year | ||
| <5 years | 91 | 0.6 (0.5–0.7) |
| 5 to <6 years | 13 947 | 92.7 (92.3–93.1) |
| 6 years or more | 1002 | 6.7 (6.3–7.1) |
| Sex | ||
| Male | 7754 | 51.6 (50.8–52.4) |
| Female | 7286 | 48.4 (47.6–49.2) |
| Indigenous status* | ||
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander | 348 | 2.3 (2.1–2.6) |
| Not Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander | 14 649 | 97.7 (97.4–97.9) |
| Socioeconomic status† | ||
| Most disadvantaged quintile (Q1) | 2676 | 18.5 (17.9–19.2) |
| Q2 | 2915 | 20.2 (19.5–20.8) |
| Q3 | 3166 | 21.9 (21.2–22.6) |
| Q4 | 2881 | 19.9 (19.3–20.6) |
| Least disadvantaged quintile (Q5) | 2805 | 19.4 (18.8–201) |
| School sector | ||
| Government school | 9773 | 65.0 (64.2–65.7) |
| Non-government school | 5267 | 35.0 (34.3–35.8) |
| Body mass index‡ | ||
| Underweight | 851 | 6.0 (5.6–6.4) |
| Healthy weight | 11 023 | 78.1 (77.4–78.7) |
| Overweight | 1736 | 12.3 (11.8–12.8) |
| Obese | 511 | 3.6 (3.3–3.9) |
| Mean (SD) daily physical activity participation (min)§ | 85.6 (66.51) | |
| Average daily physical activity participation§ | ||
| <30 min | 1782 | 13.2 (12.6–13.8) |
| 30 to <60 min | 3382 | 25.0 (24.3–25.8) |
| 60 to <90 min | 3392 | 25.1 (24.4–25.8) |
| ≥90 min | 4948 | 36.6 (35.8–37.8) |
| Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire high-risk subscale scores¶ | ||
| Emotional difficulties | 915 | 6.1 (5.8–6.5) |
| Conduct problems | 1019 | 6.8 (6.4–7.3) |
| Hyperactivity/inattention | 1232 | 8.3 (7.8–8.7) |
| Peer problems | 101 | 0.7 (0.5–0.8) |
| Total difficulties | 709 | 4.8 (4.4– 5.1 ) |
| Prosocial | 421 | 2.8 (2.6–3.1) |
| All children | 15 040 | 100.0 |
*Excludes children for whom Indigenous status was not available.
†Socioeconomic status based on ACT quintiles of relative disadvantage from IRSD at SA1 level. Excludes children for whom socioeconomic status was not available.
‡Excludes those for whom body mass index not available.
§Excludes those for whom physical activity participation not available.
¶Each category excludes those children for which the reported measure is not available.
ACT, Australian Capital Territory; IRSD, Index of Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage; SA1, Statistical Area Level 1 .