Written evidence submitted by Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, University of Essex. ST0007 [House of Commons. Education Committee. Screen time: impacts on education and wellbeing inquiry]

Publication type

Parliamentary Paper

Publication date

October 17, 2023

Summary:

Understanding Society, the UK Household Longitudinal Study, is a world-leading longitudinal survey of continuity and change in UK life. From an initial sample of around 40,000 households, the same people are invited to participate in annual surveys. Together with its predecessor, the British Household Panel Survey, the data now span 32 years. Understanding Society is based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex. It is an important part of CLOSER, a partnership of leading social and biomedical longitudinal population studies in the UK (www.closer.ac.uk). Understanding Society is primarily funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation, and has received funding from a number of government departments, devolved administrations and agencies. Anonymised data from the surveys are made available to registered researchers. In each annual survey, adults (16 and over) are asked about different aspects of their life. In households where there are children under the age of 10, parents or carers answer a set of questions about the children in their care. Young people aged 10-15 complete a short questionnaire looking at different parts of their life, after their parent or carer has given permission for them to complete it. We have identified research which uses Understanding Society data and is relevant to the committee’s question: What is the current understanding of how screen time can support or impact children’s wellbeing and mental health, including the use of social media?

Subjects

Links

- https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/125352/pdf/
- https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/125352/pdf/
- https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/125352/html/
- https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/125352/pdf/
- https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/125352/pdf/
- https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/125352/html/
- https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7912/screen-time-impacts-on-education-and-wellbeing/publications/

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