Abstract
BackgroundGlasgow City has poorer adolescent and adult health outcomes in comparison to demographically similar cities in England and the rest of Scotland. Until now, little exploration of differences in child development between Glasgow and other areas has been made. The authors hypothesized that the poorer health outcomes and lifestyle behaviours of adults, coupled with relative economic deprivation, may impact on child social, emotional and behavioural development, compared with children from other parts of Scotland.MethodsData from the Growing Up in Scotland national birth cohort study were used. Differences between Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores and child and family characteristics of children living in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GGC) Health board vs. other health boards were examined. Logistic regression and linear regression models were fitted in order to explore independent associations between health board and SDQ raw and banded scores, respectively, whilst controlling for other contributing factors.ResultsChildren in GGC were demographically different from those in other areas of Scotland, being significantly more likely to live in the most deprived areas, yet no difference was found in relation to the mental health of preschool-aged children in GGC. Children in GGC had slightly better SDQ Conduct Problems scores once demographic factors were controlled for.ConclusionsAt 46 months, there does not appear to be any difference in Glasgow with regards to social, emotional and behavioural development. Glaswegian children appear to have slightly fewer conduct problems at this age, once demographics are taken into account. A range of theories are put forward as to why no differences were found, including the inclusion of areas adjacent to Glasgow City in the analysis, sleeper effects, and rater bias.
Highlights
Glasgow City has poorer adolescent and adult health outcomes in comparison to demographically similar cities in England and the rest of Scotland
This paper aimed to explore whether there was a difference between Glasgow and other areas in Scotland in the prevalence of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties in preschool aged children, and, in particular, whether there is an amount of variation between the areas which cannot be explained solely by differences in the demographic profile of Greater Glasgow and Clyde
The only difference between children living in Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s levels of difficulties and other children’s, was slightly lower scores on the Conduct Problems domain, after adjustment for other demographic factors
Summary
Glasgow is commonly known as ‘the sick man of Europe’, a title which relates to its poor health outcomes for adults, including increased premature mortality, anxiety, cardiovascular disease, general health and obesity [1,2,3]. In the past this has been attributed to poverty. The, frequently unexplained, differences demonstrated in the current literature between Glasgow City and other areas in relation to adult health outcomes, combined with the lack of research which has been conducted around child outcomes, led to the current study’s exploration of whether Glasgow is different in terms of children’s outcomes, in particular an exploration of social, emotional and behavioural outcomes, which may demonstrate more variation in outcomes, compared with child mortality, for example
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