About the research
Can negative changes early in a child’s life shape them for years to come? How can the Government approach the challenges of early childhood issues? This research study examined the prevalence and impact of four significant events likely to have a negative effect on children – parental separation, moving home, parental job loss, the onset of persistent maternal health problems – and looked at how these events were associated with other known drivers of negative child outcomes, such as income poverty. Researchers discovered that more than two in five children in Scotland (44 percent) experience key events in their early life which can lead to negative child outcomes, including 40 percent who experience at least one move and 14 percent of children in single parent families and 6 percent of children in couple families experiencing parental job loss. All of the events can have multiple negative outcomes but the research suggested that all four events were associated with family income poverty in particular. There were also associations between the events and poor parent-child relationships and chaos in the home environment.
The findings suggest that public services need to take a holistic approach, looking at the needs of the whole family, since each event makes it more likely a child will experience other forms of hardship as well. Specifically, the study concluded that extra support for unemployed parents – in addition to employment support available to other jobseekers – may be needed on top of traditional family support programmes in order to counterbalance the negative consequences parental job loss incurs on young children. Signposting, referrals and outreach services that link together are also needed to ensure families have access to the support they need.
Methodology
Significant events were examined using data on parental separation and re-partnering, house moves, job loss or significant decrease in working hours (decrease in Work Intensity Ratio of 0.5 or more) and maternal health (mother developing a persistent limiting health problem). The ‘drivers’ of child outcomes considered were home CHAOS (15-item Confusion, Hubbub, and Order Scale), relative low income (bottom 30 per cent of the equivalised income distribution to identify families living on low income), maternal mental health (Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short Form (SF-12) mental health component) and parent-child relationship (Pianta scale). Multiple regression analysis techniques were used to look at the relationships between family background characteristics, events and the drivers of child outcomes – see Section 2.2 and the Technical Appendix of the published report Change in early childhood and the impact of significant events.
Publications
The research received widespread media coverage, including The Scotsman.