Children’s well-being and social relationships study published


The Office for National Statistics recently published its 2018 report on children’s well-being and social relationships in the UK. The study looks at how children aged 0 to 15 years are coping in a range of areas that affect their quality of life, reflecting the circumstances of their lives and their own perspectives. Many of us will say that things are no longer the same today as when we were growing up and it is true that children of the 21st century face a multitude of different issues than those of their parents and grandparents.

Some of the key points of the 2018 study revealed that:

  • The proportion of children aged 10 to 15 years who argued more than once a week with their mother fell significantly from 30.5% in 2009 to 2010 to 25.8% in 2015 to 2016.
  • The proportion of children aged 10 to 15 years who talked to their father more than once a week about things that mattered to them increased significantly from 38% in 2009 to 2010 to £45.2% in 2015 to 2016.
  • The growth in children talking to their fathers more was driven largely by girls, who reported an increase from 35.7% in 2009 to 2010 to 45.6% in 2015 to 2016, making this aspect of children’s relationships with their fathers now very similar for both boys and girls.
  • The proportion of children aged 10 to 15 years reporting high or very high happiness with friends fell significantly from 85.8% in 2015 to 80.5% in 2017, with boys being the main driver of this change.
  • The proportion of children aged 10 to 15 years who reported using social networking sites for more than three hours on a normal school day increased significantly from 8.6% in 2010 to 2011 to 12.8% in 2015 to 2016, with girls more than twice as likely to spend this length of time using social networking sites.

The full report can be found here.

Amanda Erskine is a solicitor in the Family department at Barker Gotelee Solicitors.

Suffolk Family Solicitors – for more information on our range of legal services, please call the team on 01473 611211 or email [email protected]