Where are we now?

Year 1
GUS was launched in April 2005. In the first year, a response rate of 80% was achieved and, thanks to the continued commitment of the families involved, the success of this first year has been carried over into the second and third stages of the study. Results from the first year of the study were published in January 2007. The various reports, and footage from the results launch event, can be accessed from our research findings page.

The data from Sweep 1 of GUS can be accessed through the UK Data Archive. Please see our Using the Data page for further information. The Data Documentation, including a copy of the Sweep 1 Questionnaire, is also available from this page.

Year 2e second year
Interviews for the second year of the study, which launched in April 2006, were completed in May 2007. The Year 2 Report, summarising the information collected at Sweep 2, was published in February 2008. The Year 2 report contains analysis of any change in existing topics and includes the results for the new topics introduced during Sweep 2:

• Food and nutrition
• Participation in activities
• The transition to pre-school
• Neighbourhood and community
• Child height and weight measurements

The Year 2 report also incorporates results obtained from the Partners’ survey.

A half day conference was held on 18th February 2008 to coincide with the publication of the report. Footage from the event can be accessed through our home page. To download a copy of the report, summary findings and topic reports, please visit our research findings page.

The data from Sweep 2 of GUS is now available from the UK Data Archive. For more information, please see our Using GUS data page.

Year 3he third year
Interviews for the third year of the study were completed in May 2008. At the third sweep, children in the younger cohort were aged just under 3 years and those in the older cohort were aged just under 5 years. The children in our younger cohort are now the same age that those in our older cohort were at Sweep 1. This means that, after this year, we will be able to compare information about two year old children in 2005/06 with the same information about two year olds in 2007/08 and highlight any key changes during that time.

The interviews at Sweep 3 explored further issues around neighbourhood and community and food and nutrition, with new sections on friendship networks and, for some of the children in our older group, the transition to primary school. Many existing topics such as parenting, childcare, child health and development, were adapted, either to suit the slightly older cohort, or to examine additional areas within these topics.

An interview with the child’s main carer remained the central part of the data collection but this year children in our younger group also got the chance to become involved. The Scottish Government is very interested in how the children in the study are progressing and to allow us to look at this more closely, children in the younger group were asked to carry out two educational exercises. These exercises were taken from the British Ability Scales, which are well respected and widely used educational tools. They are used on many other similar studies and are an interesting and fun way of getting the children involved.

Researchers have been analysing the information collected during Sweep 3. This year our style of reporting has changed. Five reports will be produced on the topics of Food, Eating and Physical Activity; Non-resident Parents; Childcare; Parenting and the Neighbourhood Context; and The Impact of children's early activities on Cognitive Development. The reports were published in early 2009 and are available through our research findings page. The data from Sweep 3 is now available to download from the UK Data Archive.

Year 4The fourth year
At Sweep 4, our interviewers visited families when our younger children were aged just under 4 years and our older children were aged just under 6 years. The fieldwork for Sweep 4 ran from April 2008 to May 2009.

The Sweep 4 questionnaire continued many of themes covered by the study at previous sweeps allowing important changes in circumstances, characteristics and behaviour to be tracked over time. Indeed, because of this focus on tracking change, no completely new topics were introduced at Sweep 4. However, there were some developments within existing topics. For example, at Sweep 4, all of the children in the older cohort were eligible to have started primary school. This allowed their early experiences of primary school to be explored in detail. Also, amongst the parenting questions, we explored new issues related to parental protectiveness and supervision. We also took height and weight measurements from children in both cohorts adding to the data we already have for the child cohort at Sweep 2.

At Sweep 4 we asked parents for their consent to link GUS data with selected health information held by the Information Services Division of NHS Scotland. This includes birth details, hospital admissions, health visitor information and immunisation data. Linking to administrative data in this way will add further, and extremely useful, detail to our already rich dataset.

The findings from Sweep 4 were published in April 2010. Four reports were produced on the following topics:
• Children’s social, emotional and behavioural characteristics at entry to primary school
• Health inequalities in the early years
• The circumstances of persistently poor children
• Maternal mental health and its impact on child behaviour and development

To download the report, please visit our research findings page.

Year 5
The fifth round of annual interviews 'Sweep 5' was launched in April 2009. This year our interviewers visited the families with children in the younger cohort, who are now aged just under 5. The families with children in the older cohort may not be visited for a few years but we will stay in touch and keep them up to date with what is happening with GUS.

In addition to the main questionnaire, which is answered by the child’s main carer, the children will take part in exercises to test their cognitive ability. The tests were previously carried out at Sweep 3, when the children were aged just under 3. The results of these tests will help researchers to measure the impact of early education and experiences. Other topics covered at Sweep 5 include food and nutrition, activities with others, parenting styles and responsibilities, and the transition to pre-school or primary school (depending on what stage the children are at the time of interview). Sweep 5 concluded in May 2010. The findings were launched at our fifth annual conference in June 2011. Please visit our research findings page to download the reports. You can listen to the presenations from the conference and download the slides here.

Year 6
Sweep 6 interviews with children from 'Birth Cohort 1' ran between April 2010 and May 2011. The children in the birth cohort were just under 6 years old and have all started primary school. Findings from the sixth year will be pubished in May 2012 on the topics of grandparents, obesity and school.

Birth cohort 2
We are now recruiting a new group of around 6,000 babies to take part in GUS. Babies born between 1st March 2010 and 28th February 2011 will be eligible to take part. Interviews commenced in January 2011. As with our first birth cohort, families will be invited to take part in an interview when their child is around 10 months old. This new information provided by parents will tell us if the experiences of children 'growing up in Scotland' are changing.

Birth cohort - Sweep 7
Will commence in April 2012. At this stage the children in our original birth cohort will be nearly 8 years old. For the first time in the study, the children will be asked some questions directly.

Page updated: January 2012