Scottish families invited to join landmark study

Generation New Era will be the first UK-wide study of its kind in 25 years, and the largest ever, following babies across the country as they grow up in a rapidly changing world.

In Scotland, the parents of 5000 babies – around a quarter of all babies born in the country this year – will be invited to take part. They will receive a letter when their babies are around nine to 10 months old, with interviews taking place over the coming year.

Generation New Era aims to build an up-to-date picture of children’s development and will examine what it means to raise a child, to inform how public policy can meet the needs of families today, researchers say.

Child development

The study, funded by UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), is led by the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies and brings together leading researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh, Swansea and Ulster.

Parents selected for the study will be asked questions on a variety of topics that have been developed with the input of parents and the public, expert researchers, and policymakers. 

Research themes include babies’ development and health, parental health, family and home, social and environmental influences, inequality, and disadvantage and diversity. 

The study team will also invite parents to use a smartphone app to log their baby’s language and wider development, and other baby-focused topics monthly. 

The study aims to follow the children throughout their lives. Families will be invited to take part in another interview when their child is three years old.

Family life

From AI tools for online parenting advice, to screen time, Generation New Era will explore how technology is shaping family life and children’s early development.

The study will examine a wide range of questions, such as what drives inequalities in child development in early life, how cost of living pressures affect families with young children, and how families manage work and childcare responsibilities.

With parents’ consent, survey responses will be linked to health, education, and social care records, giving researchers a more comprehensive picture of families’ lives.

Representative data

To make sure the study is big enough to create policy evidence for each of the four UK countries, there are substantial boosts to the number of eligible families in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. A quarter of babies born in Scotland, a third in Wales and around half in Northern Ireland will be invited to take part. 

Fathers are a big focus of the research, and the study aims to include all parents, including those who do not live with their baby, even if they have little contact. 

The study has been designed to listen to the experiences of diverse families from a wide range of backgrounds. This includes boosted samples of ethnic minority families, and families living in lower-income areas. The team is also very keen to hear from young parents.

Long-term impact

By hearing directly from a variety of families across the UK, Generation New Era will provide vital evidence to inform decisions about health, education, childcare, family support services and local communities for years to come, experts say.

Families invited to join the study are strongly encouraged to take part, so that the study contains a representative mix of families from across the UK. 

However, parents cannot volunteer to join the study without an invitation. This is so that the balance of different families taking part remains reflective of all of the UK, the research team says.

Related links

Generation New Era

UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies

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