CLS to lead UK pilot of new Europe-wide cohort study on child wellbeing

CLS has been awarded £400,000 by the Economic and Social Research Council to conduct the UK pilot of Growing Up in Digital Europe (GUIDE), a major European initiative to create internationally harmonised data for research on child development and wellbeing.

The pilot study will be carried out with a representative sample of 250 families with eight-year-old children from across the UK (100 from England, and 50 each from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). In-person interviews will be carried out with the child and their main carer in a home visit.

Data from GUIDE would support cross-country comparisons across a wide range of pertinent issues facing children and their families, including:

• wellbeing and mental health
• parenting and childcare
• school experiences and performance
• cognitive, social and emotional development
• out-of-school activities
• wider family, social and environmental contexts.

Contributing to an international data resource

The UK pilot will be led by Professor Lisa Calderwood, CLS Managing Director, in partnership with Co-Directors Prof Jennifer Symonds of UCL and Prof Gary Pollock of Manchester Metropolitan University. Centerdata, an independent research institute in the Netherlands, are also part of the leadership team.

“Child wellbeing is recognised as a cornerstone of societal progress. GUIDE will provide insight into how children in the UK are faring in an international context … we are thrilled to be contributing to this important international data infrastructure collaboration.”

Study co-director, Professor Lisa Calderwood

Professor Calderwood said, “Child wellbeing is recognised as a cornerstone of societal progress. GUIDE will provide insight into how children in the UK are faring in an international context and how UK policies and services can best support individual health and wellbeing alongside societal development.

We are thrilled to be contributing to this important international data infrastructure collaboration. This pilot study will ensure this cross-country resource for research is optimally designed for the unique UK context and lay the groundwork for the UK to be part of the future main study.”

About the pilot and a potential full-scale study

GUIDE would fill a gap in the UK’s data infrastructure on child development and wellbeing in middle to late childhood. A full-scale study would sit alongside other UK data infrastructure, including a new Early Life Cohort study, the Covid Social Mobility & Opportunities study, the Medical Research Council’s Adolescent Mental Health Study.

The 10-month pilot project will culminate in comprehensive documentation and recommendations for a future full-scale cohort study, which will be shared with prospective UK funders and study teams. The aspiration is for a full-scale study to continue collecting data until the children reached early adulthood. The data from a full-scale GUIDE study would be fully harmonised across all participating European countries.

The UK pilot will determine if the established GUIDE questionnaires and technical infrastructure are suitable to the UK context, and test UK variations related to sampling, survey instruments, and compliance with UK data and privacy laws.

A leading survey agency will be appointed through a competitive tender process to carry out the fieldwork. Data from the pilot study will be deposited at the UK Data Service for use by the wider scientific community.