Survey of the Development and Well-being of Children and Adolescents
Key facts
Survey coverage: Great Britain
Set Sample size: 14,250 children
Fieldwork dates: January - May 1999
Why was the survey carried out?
Social Survey Division (SSD) carried out a study of the development and well-being of children and adolescents aged 5 to 15 years in Great Britain. This was the first time such a significant, large scale survey of this kind has been undertaken in Great Britain. The survey was commissioned by the Department of Health, the Scottish Office and the Welsh Office. This follows on from the earlier surveys of psychiatric morbidity among adults in private households, residents of institutions catering for people with mental disorders, homeless people and prisoners in England and Wales.
The main aims of the survey are:
- to estimate the prevalence of behavioural or emotional problems among children aged 5 to 15 years living in private households in Great Britain
- to examine the impact and burden of these mental health problems in terms of social dysfunction, interference with development, child's distress or disruption to others
- to investigate the use and need for services - primary, secondary and tertiary health services, social services and educational services and
- to measure the prevalence of dyslexia and to examine the relationship between dyslexia and mental disorders.
How was the survey done?
To obtain a complete picture of children's behaviour, information was collected from up to three sources:
| | 1. | Parent - a face to face interview was carried out with all parents. |
| | 2. | Child - 11 to 15 year olds were asked to take part in a personal interview. All children were asked to complete a dyslexia test. |
| | 3. | Teacher - a questionnaire was posted to a teacher nominated by the parent/child. Signed consent was obtained from parents before the questionnaire was sent. |
The questionnaires were designed to identify the three broad categories of disorder: conduct disorder, emotional problems and hyperactivity. Young people (11 to 15 years) were also asked to complete a self-completion questionnaire which included sections on chronic fatigue syndrome, cigarette smoking, alcohol and drug use.
Fieldwork for the survey took place between January and May 1999, the aim being to obtain information from about 9,500 children and adolescents: England (8000), Scotland (1000) and Wales (500) in 475 postal sectors.
Unlike the majority of household surveys, the Postcode Address File (a comprehensive list of all delivery points - postal addresses - in Great Britain) was not used as the sampling frame. For this survey, the sample was drawn from centrally held benefit records. All selected cases were given the opportunity to opt-out before their names and addresses were passed to ONS. The initial sample drawn was 14,250 children, 6% of these cases 'opted-out'.
Data from the three sources (parent, child and teacher) were passed on for case vignette assessments by clinicians at the Institute of Psychiatry, London.
Where can the results be found?
A report and free summary bulletin of the findings have been published.
The main report of the survey "Mental health of children and adolescents in Great Britain" by Howard Meltzer, Rebecca Gatward, Robert Goodman and Tamsin Ford, ISBN 0-11-621373-6, price £35.
Order online from The Stationery Office.
For more information about SSD or the surveys we carry out contact:
SSD Project Support Branch Tel: +44 (0)20 7533 5500 or e-mail: ssdpsb@ons.gov.uk
This page last revised: Thursday, 4 July 2002
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