GROWING UP IN SCOTLAND: THE CIRCUMSTANCES AND EXPERIENCES OF 3 YEAR OLD CHILDREN LIVING IN SCOTLAND IN 2007/08 AND 2013

This report uses data from the Growing Up in Scotland Study to compare the circumstances and experiences of children aged 3 in Scotland in 2007/08 with those at the same age in 2013.It looks at child health and development and parental health as well as other aspects that could be compared including television viewing. The report considers how these vary by socio-economic characteristics: household income; area deprivation; maternal age and parental level of education.


Chapter 6 Parenting Support

The Early Years Framework (Scottish Government, 2008a) acknowledges the central importance of parenting and family capacity in delivering improved outcomes for children and families by making this one of the four core strands. In so doing, the Framework highlights the importance of providing parents with appropriate and integrated support which will, amongst other things, allow them "to develop the skills needed to provide a nurturing and stimulating home environment free from conflict" and "meet a range of needs they [parents] may have" (Scottish Government, 2008a: 11). Supporting parents is not just about providing greater access to the right sort of formal services, informal social support networks also play a significant part in helping parents in their role. The importance of informal support for families with multiple disadvantages, but particularly with low incomes, has already been recognised in previous GUS research (Mabelis and Marryat, 2011; Bradshaw et al, 2009; Bradshaw et al., 2008). Low social support has been associated with poor maternal mental health, a factor linked to poorer child outcomes (Marryat and Martin, 2010). In addition, strong maternal social networks have been shown to protect children living in persistently low incomes from poorer wellbeing (Treanor, 2015).

This chapter compares differences in attitudes and experiences related to parenting support. In particular, it provides insight into parents' access to informal support and their attitudes towards seeking and accessing support. This chapter therefore presents an important and influential part of the environment within which children are growing up.

6.1 Informal support

Previous research has demonstrated the importance of sources of informal support for help, information and advice on child health concerns. Participants were asked how easy it would be for them to find someone at short notice to look after the cohort child for a few hours during the day. The results for each cohort are shown in Table 6.1.

The majority of parents in both cohorts found it very or fairly easy to arrange this sort of short notice childcare. However, parents in BC2 found it less easy than those in BC1. 77% of parents in BC1 said it would be very or fairly easy to arrange this sort of care compared with 68% of parents in BC2. In contrast, 26% of parents in BC2 said it would be very or fairly difficult compared with 17% in BC1. These differences are statistically significant.

Table 6.1 How easy or difficult would it be to find someone to look after the cohort child for couple of hours during the day at short notice, by cohort

BC1 BC2
% %
Very easy 40 32
Fairly easy 37 36
Neither easy nor difficult 6 5
Fairly difficult 11 15
Very difficult 6 11
Unweighted bases 4193 5019

Tested on category 5 'very difficult': differences by cohort p < .001

As Table 6.2 shows, to some extent the relationship between income and ease of arranging short notice childcare is similar in both cohorts. For each, parents in lower income households were more likely to say they found arranging short notice childcare 'very difficult'. In BC1, the difference is very slight - only around 2 percentage points. In BC2, it is a little more pronounced - 8% amongst parents in the highest income group compared with 14% in the lowest income group. These differences are statistically significant. Nevertheless, there is no corresponding linear pattern amongst those who found it 'very easy'. That is, higher income parents were not any more likely to find arranging this childcare very easy than lower income parents were, in either cohort. The main change to note is that the higher level of difficulty in arranging this type of care amongst parents in BC2 is evident in each income group. For example, among the lowest income group the proportion of parents who found it very difficult increased from 8% in BC1 to 14% in BC2 and among the highest income group from 6% in BC1 to 8% in BC2.

Table 6.2 How easy or difficult would it be to find someone to look after the cohort child for couple of hours during the day at short notice, by equivalised household income (quintiles) and cohort

Lowest quintile 2nd quintile 3rd quintile 4th quintile Highest quintile
% % % % %
BC1
Very easy 37 45 42 37 38
Fairly easy 35 32 37 43 37
Neither easy nor difficult 7 6 5 4 5
Fairly difficult 13 10 10 10 14
Very difficult 8 5 5 5 6
BC2
Very easy 33 30 33 34 29
Fairly easy 33 37 37 40 41
Neither easy nor difficult 6 6 5 4 5
Fairly difficult 14 15 16 12 16
Very difficult 14 12 10 9 8
Unweighted bases - BC1 783 803 761 858 721
Unweighted bases - BC2 981 778 814 776 1021

Tested on category 5 'very difficult': differences by income p < .05; differences by cohort p < .001; cohort*income p = NS.

In terms of parental level of education (Table 6.3), again the main change to note is that the higher level of difficulty in arranging this type of care amongst parents in BC2 is evident in each sub-group. For example, 7% of parents with a degree-level qualification or equivalent in BC1 found it very difficult compared with 10% of parents in the same group in BC2. Similarly, amongst parents with no qualifications, the proportion who found it very difficult to arrange short notice care increased from 9% in BC1 to 13% in BC2. The pattern by education level in each cohort is similar to income in that social differences are a little more evident in BC2 than BC1. In BC2 those educated to Standard Grade or below are more likely to have found arranging this care 'very difficult' than those with Higher Grade qualifications or above though the pattern is not completely linear (the group most likely to report it being 'very difficult' was those who had lower Standard Grades or equivalent). This pattern is less evident in BC1 where there is less variation in the proportion who found it very difficult by level of education. Differences in the relationship by income in each cohort are statistically significant.

Table 6.3 How easy or difficult would it be to find someone to look after the cohort child for a couple of hours during the day at short notice, by parental level of education and cohort

No qualifications Lower Standard Grades or VQs or Other Upper level SGs or Intermediate VQs Higher grades and upper level VQs Degree level academic and vocational qualifications
% % % % %
BC1
Very easy 44 46 42 44 34
Fairly easy 26 35 35 37 40
Neither easy nor difficult 6 5 5 6 6
Fairly difficult 13 8 11 10 13
Very difficult 9 5 7 4 7
BC2
Very easy 37 36 34 35 28
Fairly easy 31 31 34 35 40
Neither easy nor difficult 3 6 5 5 5
Fairly difficult 13 10 12 15 17
Very difficult 13 16 15 10 10
Unweighted bases - BC1 200 206 804 1379 1597
Unweighted bases - BC2 164 217 714 1428 2318

Tested on category 5 'very difficult': differences by income p < .001; differences by cohort p < .01; cohort*level of education p < .05

In both cohorts, mothers aged 40 or older found it more difficult than younger mothers to organise this sort of care. In BC2, 36% of those aged 40 or older said it would be very or fairly difficult compared with 21% of mothers under 20 and around 25% of those aged between 20 and 39 (Table 6.4).

Differences by age are statistically significant in both BC1 and BC2. In all age groups, mothers in BC2 reported greater difficulty than those in BC1, following the pattern seen above in other sub-groups. There was a similar relationship between access to short-notice childcare and maternal age (at child's birth) in both cohorts.

Table 6.4 How easy or difficult would it be to find someone to look after the cohort child for couple of hours during the day at short notice, by maternal age at child's birth and cohort

Under 20 years old 20 to 29 years old 30 to 39 years old 40 or older
% % % %
BC1
Very easy 47 43 38 24
Fairly easy 30 35 39 44
Neither easy nor difficult 8 6 5 3
Fairly difficult 11 10 12 18
Very difficult 4 5 6 11
BC2
Very easy 39 33 31 22
Fairly easy 32 36 38 36
Neither easy nor difficult 7 5 5 5
Fairly difficult 13 14 16 22
Very difficult 8 11 11 14
Unweighted bases - BC1 221 1565 2229 155
Unweighted bases - BC2 217 1979 2573 227

Tested on category 5 'very difficult': differences by maternal age - BC1 p < .001/BC2 p < .001; differences by cohort p < .001; cohort*maternal age p = NS.

Comparison by area deprivation again shows that within each sub-group parents in BC2 reported a greater level of difficulty arranging this care than did parents in BC1 (Table 6.5). For example, amongst those living in areas in the most deprived quintile, 5% of parents in BC1 said it would be very difficult compared with 10% of parents living in similar areas in BC2. By comparison with the other measures of socio-economic status, there is not a particularly strong relationship between ease of arranging this care and area deprivation. Indeed, for BC2, differences by area deprivation are not statistically significant. In BC1, parents living in the two most deprived areas are slightly less likely than those living in areas in the three least deprived quintiles to find arranging short notice care both very easy and very difficult. However, differences are very small.

Table 6.5 How easy or difficult would it be to find someone to look after the cohort child for a couple of hours during the day at short notice, by area deprivation (quintiles) and cohort

1 Most deprived 2 3 4 5 Least deprived
% % % % %
BC1
Very easy 37 38 40 46 41
Fairly easy 41 41 37 32 33
Neither easy nor difficult 5 4 6 5 7
Fairly difficult 11 11 10 11 12
Very difficult 5 5 7 6 7
BC2
Very easy 30 32 31 33 35
Fairly easy 39 39 40 35 31
Neither easy nor difficult 6 5 5 5 5
Fairly difficult 15 15 15 16 13
Very difficult 10 9 10 11 15
Unweighted bases - BC1 905 884 873 698 833
Unweighted bases - BC2 1011 1064 1031 936 943

Tested on category 5 'very difficult': differences by income - BC1 p < .001/BC2 p = NS; differences by cohort p < .001; cohort*area deprivation p = NS.

There are several key findings in this section. First, parents in BC2 were more likely than those in BC1 to say they would find it very difficult to organise someone to look after the child for a few hours at short notice. This increased difficulty happened for parents across all socio-economic sub-groups. Second, parents in more disadvantaged circumstances - as measured by lower income levels and lower educational qualifications - tended to have greater difficulty organising this type of care than those in more advantaged circumstances. Though despite being more likely to have lower incomes and qualifications than older mothers, younger mothers had less difficulty organising this care than older mothers did.

The question used for this analysis will provoke parents to think of informal sources of support in the first instance. These are usually more flexible, available and convenient for the sort of last minute, short duration childcare which is referenced. However, the question does not ask parents to exclude other more formal sources they may use for this sort of scenario. As such, if parents have a regular childcare arrangement with a nursery or childminder they may have reasonably taken these into consideration when answering the question. Previous GUS research has shown that parents in more advantaged circumstances use a wider range of providers for childcare and are more likely to be using a mix of formal and informal providers (Bradshaw and Wasoff, 2009) than those in more disadvantaged circumstances. Many disadvantaged parents thus have a narrower pool of resources to draw on which may explain their greater difficulty in arranging short notice care for the child. However, the trend is reversed for younger mothers. Despite being more likely to live in more disadvantaged households, they were less likely than older mothers - who tend to live in more advantaged households - to have difficulty arranging short notice care. A large part of this reversal is explained by the living arrangements of younger mothers. Those in the youngest age groups are significantly more likely to live with their own parents - the child's grandparents - than older mothers are. Whilst this is also more common amongst lower income and lower educated families, it is particularly pronounced for younger mothers. When the child was aged 3, 14% of mothers in BC2 aged under 20 at the child's birth lived in the same household as one of the child's grandparents compared with 3% of mothers aged 40 or older and just 1% of mothers in their thirties. This greater, immediate access to grandparents for these mothers is likely to make arranging short notice care easier.

It is not only short notice childcare that appears to have been more difficult to arrange for parents in BC2, similar trends are also seen in relation to arranging more regular, planned childcare. Parents in BC2 said they found it less easy to arrange regular childcare than those in BC1 - 35% of parents in BC1 found it very easy compared with 31% of parents in BC2.[16] There is no evidence that this is because mothers in BC2 have more limited social networks or are more socially isolated than parents in BC1.[17] The change is perhaps therefore more likely to be due to a combination of increased pressures on, and resulting lower availability of, formal childcare providers as well as other demands on the time of informal providers. For example, the increase in full-time working among main carers (see paragraph 3.4) suggests that mothers in BC2 may have less time to provide childcare for their peers than was the case in BC1. In addition, an increase in the average age of retirement during the period between cohorts (ONS, 2013) means that a greater number of grandparents of children in BC2 were likely to still be working when the child was aged 3, impacting on their availability for childcare.

6.2 Attitudes to support with parenting

In both cohorts, parents have been asked the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with a range of statements about help-seeking behaviour and accessing support.[18]

  • "If you ask for help or advice on parenting from professionals like doctors or social workers, they start interfering or trying to take over."
  • "Professionals like health visitors do not offer parents enough advice and support with bringing up their children."
  • "If other people knew you were getting professional advice or support with parenting, they would probably think you were a bad parent."
  • "It's difficult to ask people for help or advice unless you know them really well."
  • "It's hard to know who to ask for help or advice about being a parent."

Agreement with the statements suggests reluctance to seek help or support either through formal services or informally. For example, if you agree that when you ask for help or advice from professionals they start interfering and trying to take over, this would suggest you are more likely to feel uncomfortable seeking help and advice from these formal sources.

Parents in both cohorts were not asked these questions at the same age point. For parents in BC2, the child was aged 3 - as with all other data in this report. However, parents in BC1 were asked when the child was aged 4.[19] This difference in age, and the associated additional experience of parenting (particularly in cases where this is the only child in the family) may affect responses to these items. In earlier analysis of GUS data from BC1, Mabelis and Marryat (2011) compared parental attitudes to formal support when the child was aged 10 months and 4 years. This analysis showed that whilst the majority of parents (between 53% and 62% depending on the question) retained the same attitudes over time - suggesting that for most, experience of parenthood doesn't change their perspective on formal support - a reasonable proportion of parents did show a change in attitude. This has implications for the comparison between cohorts. However, the intervening period for the comparison in Mabelis and Marryat (2011) was three years. In this instance, there is only one year of parenting experience separating the cohorts. Thus whilst any differences between the cohorts should be treated with some caution, we nevertheless believe there is merit in the comparison.

Table 6.6 shows the proportion of parents who agreed or disagreed with each statement by cohort. In both cohorts parents were most likely to agree that it was difficult to ask people for help unless you know them really well and least likely to agree with the first statement, concerning interference from professionals. However, there is a notable change between cohorts which is evident in all statements. Parents in BC2 were less likely than those in BC1 to say they neither agreed nor disagreed and more likely to disagree.[20] For example, 61% of parents in BC1 disagreed with the first statement on interference compared with 73% of parents in BC2. These differences are statistically significant. Nevertheless, it is those parents who agree with the statements - indicating a wariness of and reluctance to use sources of support - that are of particular concern and the proportion agreeing to the statements shows little change between cohorts.

Table 6.6 % of parents who agreed or disagreed with each statement by cohort

Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly disagree Unwtd bases
If you ask for help or advice on parenting from professionals like doctors or social workers, they start interfering or trying to take over
BC1 % 2 7 30 51 10 3785
BC2 % 2 8 17 57 16 4977
Professionals like health visitors do not offer parents enough advice and support with bringing up their children
BC1 % 2 14 34 45 5 3793
BC2 % 3 16 20 51 10 4996
If other people knew you were getting professional advice or support with parenting, they would probably think you were a bad parent
BC1 % 3 22 24 47 5 3882
BC2 % 2 20 15 53 10 5014
It's difficult to ask people for help or advice unless you know them really well
BC1 % 3 30 17 46 3 3888
BC2 % 3 26 12 53 6 5015
It"s hard to know who to ask for help or advice about being a parent
BC1 % 2 23 18 53 4 3885
BC2 % 3 21 11 59 7 5014

Tested on 'strongly disagree'. Differences by cohort on all items are statistically significant p < 0.001

To provide an overview of differences in attitudes to help-seeking and support a summary measure was created indicating reluctance to help-seeking. A count was made of the number of statements each parent agreed to (including strongly agreed). Those who agreed to two or more statements were classed as reluctant to seek help.

In BC2, 29% of parents were categorised as reluctant to seek help (Table 6.7). This included 16% who agreed with two statements, 8% who agreed with three statements, 4% who agreed with four statements and 1% who agreed with all five statements. There was no statistically significant difference between cohorts in the proportion classed as reluctant to seek help or in the number of statements parents agreed to.

Table 6.7 Is parent classed as reluctant to seek help and number of statements parent agreed to, by cohort

BC1 BC2
% %
Is parent classed as a reluctant help-seeker?
No 70 71
Yes 30 29
Number of statements parent agreed to
0 45 46
1 25 25
2 15 16
3 9 8
4 4 4
5 2 1
Unweighted bases 3717 4955

Tested on category 5 'very difficult': differences by cohort p < .001

Table 6.8 shows the extent to which reluctant help-seeking varied between parents with different household income. Similar to the findings from earlier GUS analysis (Mabelis and Marryat, 2011), reluctance was more common amongst parents in more disadvantaged circumstances than amongst those in more advantaged circumstances with the proportion of reluctant parents decreasing as level of advantage increased. This pattern is clear in both cohorts. For example, parents in the lowest income quintile were around twice as likely to be in the reluctant group than those in the highest income group (for BC2, 39% compared with 18%). Differences by income are statistically significant. The proportion of parents in each income group within each cohort classed as reluctant help seekers is very similar. Indeed, differences by cohort are not statistically significant.

Table 6.8 % of parents classed as reluctant to seek help, by cohort and equivalised household income (quintiles)

Lowest quintile 2nd quintile 3rd quintile 4th quintile Highest quintile
% % % % %
BC1 44 29 27 21 20
BC2 39 32 25 23 18
Unweighted bases - BC1 656 719 687 781 639
Unweighted bases - BC2 968 764 803 766 1012

Differences by income p < .001; differences by cohort p = NS; cohort*income p = NS.

Table 6.9 compares the proportion of parents classed as reluctant to seek help by level of education and cohort. The pattern is similar to the previous table. In both cohorts, parents with lower qualifications are more likely to show reluctance towards help-seeking. Differences by level of education are statistically significant. There is little change evident amongst education sub-groups between cohorts.

Table 6.9 % of parents classed as reluctant to seek help, by cohort and parental level of education

No qualifications Lower Standard Grades or VQs or Other Upper level SGs or Intermediate VQs Higher grades and upper level VQs Degree level academic and vocational qualifications
% % % % %
BC1 48 37 37 30 21
BC2 47 42 35 30 21
Unweighted bases - BC1 153 168 707 1241 1442
Unweighted bases - BC2 160 211 707 1411 2294

Differences by level of education p < .001; differences by cohort p = NS; cohort*education age p = NS.

Differences by maternal age are again similar (Table 6.10). Younger mothers in both cohorts are more likely to be classed as reluctant to seek help. Differences by maternal age are statistically significant. Comparing parents within each age group across cohorts shows there has been almost no change in the proportion in each sub-group who are reluctant to seek help.

Table 6.10 % of parents classed as reluctant to seek help, by cohort and maternal age at child's birth

Under 20 years old 20 to 29 years old 30 to 39 years old 40 or older
% % % %
BC1 43 31 26 25
BC2 43 33 23 22
Unweighted bases - BC1 173 1366 2028 132
Unweighted bases - BC2 213 1958 2538 223

Differences by maternal age p < .001; differences by cohort p = NS; cohort*maternal age p=NS.

In both cohorts, parents living in more deprived areas are more likely to be classed as reluctant to seek help than those living in less deprived areas (Table 6.11). For example, in BC2, 20% of parents living in areas in the least deprived quintile showed reluctance towards help-seeking compared with 39% of those living in areas in the most deprived quintile. Differences by area deprivation are statistically significant. As with prior comparisons, there has been no change in the proportion in each sub-group classed as reluctant to seek help. Differences by cohort are not statistically significant.

Table 6.11 % of parents classed as reluctant to seek help, by cohort and area deprivation (quintiles)

1 Most deprived 2 3 4 5 Least deprived
% % % % %
BC1 39 38 27 23 21
BC2 39 35 26 22 20
Unweighted bases - BC1 698 627 775 802 815
Unweighted bases - BC2 932 923 1015 1051 1001

Differences by area deprivation p < .001; differences by cohort p = NS; cohort*maternal age p = NS.

In summary, attitudes to seeking help don't appear to have changed between the cohorts. However, as noted earlier, the attitudes were measured at when children in each cohort were slightly different ages. This difference may have affected the results. A measure taken at the same age point would provide a more robust comparison.

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Email: Liz Levy

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