This report uses data from the Growing up in Scotland (GUS) study to explore the contribution of specific measures of advantage and disadvantage in relation to a number of specific health related behaviours for parent and child and, in doing so, seeks to identify the characteristics of more vulnerable and more resilient families. Findings are based on the first sweep of GUS, which involved interviews with the main carers of 5,217 children aged 0-1 years old and 2,859 children aged 2-3 years old, carried out between April 2005 and March 2006.
Analysis in this report has been restricted to the birth cohort only. The data demonstrated clear inter-relationships between age of mother at the sample child’s birth, family type (that is being in a couple family, being a lone parent living with other adults, or a lone parent living only with children), socio-economic classification, household income and area deprivation. It is clear that age and family type themselves are important factors contributing to a mother’s relative social position with concentrated disadvantage evident, in particular, amongst mothers aged under 25, and lone parents.