Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study is a large-scale longitudinal social survey which follows the lives of several groups of Scottish children from infancy through childhood and adolescence, and aims to provide important new information on children and their families in Scotland. The study forms a central part of the Scottish Government's strategy for the long-term monitoring and evaluation of its policies for children, with a specific focus on the early years. Unlike other similar cohort studies, this survey has a specifically Scottish focus. A key objective of GUS is to address a significant gap in the evidence base for early years policy monitoring and evaluation. The study seeks both to describe the characteristics, circumstances and experiences of children in their early years (and their parents) in Scotland and, through its longitudinal design, to generate a better understanding of how children's start in life can shape their longer term prospects and development.Since 2005, study design and data collection have been undertaken by ScotCen Social Research with collaborations with the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, based at the University of Edinburgh and the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit over certain periods of the project. The survey design consisted of recruiting an initial total of 8,000 parents in 2005, comprising two cohorts of children (5,000 from birth, 3,000 from age two years and ten months), and then interviewing parents annually until their child reached age five years ten months. Further fieldwork was undertaken with the birth cohort when the children were around eight, ten, twelve and fourteen years old. A boost sample of 500 children from predominantly high deprivation areas was added to the cohort as part of the age 12 fieldwork.Data is collected via an in-home, face-to-face interview with self-complete sections. Fieldwork for sweep 10 was disrupted due to the COVID pandemic. As a result, the final portion of the data was collected via web and telephone questionnaires.Further information about the survey may be found on the Growing Up in Scotland website.
Removal of Geographical Variables and Spatial Unit Variable As of February 2018, at the data owner's request, the variables recording the 15% most deprived data zones, the 8 fold urban-rural classification and the Health Boards have been removed from all sweeps (where included). The variables removed are: Sweep 1: ALaLow15, ALaHBdBc;Sweep 2: ALcLow15, ALcURin1, ALcHBdBc. New edition informationFor the fourth edition (May 2019), an error in the Sweep 3 data has been correct (the SIMD variable ALeSNim2 has been inverted to match the variable included in previous sweeps).
Main Topics:
Sweep 1: household information; infant feeding; parenting support; non-resident parents; parenting styles and activities; childcare; child health and development; employment and economic activity; income and financial stress; education and identity; housing and accommodation; interviewer observations. The self-completion section covered: language and play skills of child; feelings parents might have when caring for young children; parental health; feelings in last four weeks; smoking, alcohol and drug use; relationships with family and friends. Sweep 2 data were collected from the child's main carer: parenting; parent-child relationship; child's relationship with siblings; parental support and service use; non-resident parents; child health and development; activities (child and parent); child's diet; childcare; pre-school; transition to primary school; parental health and health behaviours; parental relationship; employment and education; income, expenditure and financial stress; housing and accommodation; neighbourhood and community. Objective measurements taken included: child's height and weight; cognitive assessments (BAS-3 Naming Vocabulary and Picture Similarities); and interviewer observations of parent-child interactions and child behaviour. Sweep 3: data collected from child's main carer: Parenting, Parent-child relationship, Child's relationship with siblings, Parental support and service use, Non-resident parents, Child health and development, Activities (child and parent), Child's diet, Childcare, Pre-school, Transition to primary school, Parental health and health behaviours, Child self-control, Activities, Physical activity and Food and eating; Parental relationship, Employment and education, Income, expenditure and financial stress, Housing and accommodation. Objective measurements: Child's height and weight; Cognitive assessments (BAS-3 Naming Vocabulary and Picture Similarities).
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Face-to-face interview
Self-administered questionnaire
Psychological measurements and tests
Observation
Physical measurements and tests
Sweep 2: psychometric tests using the British Ability Scales 3rd edition.
