Abstract
This paper summarises the results of socioeconomic comparisons made between the parents of 15-year-old children enrolled in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study (DMHDS) and the population of New Zealand parents with children of similar age identified from the 1986 Census database. DMHDS parents were significantly advantaged in terms of education, income, occupation, and overall socioeconomic status. Prevalence estimates of characteristics associated with socioeconomic factors reported by the DMHDS are likely to be conservative. Nevertheless, the full socioeconomic spectrum of parents was represented, therefore, the identification of socioeconomic risk factors for particular outcomes can be achieved within the structure of the DMHDS cohort itself.