The Growing Up in Scotland study (GUS) has been following the lives of children and their families across Scotland for nearly 10 years. There are 2 groups of children taking part in the research – an older group of 3,500 children now in Primary 6, and a younger group of 6,000 children who are approaching their 5th birthdays.
The study is funded by the Scottish Government to provide new information about what makes Scotland the ‘best place to grow up’. GUS helps us to look at how the circumstances and experiences of children in Scotland are changing and how early experiences can have an impact later on in life.
With an increasing focus on overall child wellbeing, research findings from GUS can help us to understand why some children feel unhappy and why some children have social and emotional difficulties. Our researchers used information provided by seven year-old children and their mothers from around 3,200 families, who were interviewed in 2012/13, to explore Family and school influences on children’s social and emotional well-being.
Not surprisingly, the research finds that relationships are key to child wellbeing. Greater conflict in parent-child relationships, lower parental awareness of children’s activities and/or relationships when not at school, children’s difficulties adjusting to primary school and children having poorer quality friendships were associated with children having high levels of behavioural and emotional problems, and with lower life satisfaction.
For more detail, please see the full report or read a blog by the lead researcher, Alison Parkes from the MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit at the University of Glasgow.
Also new from GUS
We have developed some new pages on our website for children. Although primarily aimed at the P6 children who are taking part in the study, they might also be of interest to others. The pages include a fun quiz which highlights some of our research findings. Please have a look and let us know what you think.
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