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Deprivation and gender

Glasgow City children indicating need on Total Difficulties Scale at 27-30 month review, by deprivation levelSDQ 30m SIMD

Children who lived in the areas of Glasgow City with the highest levels of deprivation (quintile 1) were three times more likely to have difficulties with social, emotional or behavioural development compared with children from the least deprived areas.

Glasgow City children indicating need on SDQ Total Difficulties Scale at 27-30 month review, by deprivation level and gender

SDQ SIMD genderWhen area deprivation and gender were analysed together, boys were more likely to have difficulties than girls at each level of deprivation. Across both sexes, those in the most deprived areas were more likely than those in the least deprived areas to be in the ‘Indicated need’ group. For example, 7% of boys in the most deprived areas of Glasgow City had difficulties, compared with 2% in the least deprived areas; for girls, the equivalent figures were 6% vs. 1%.

Proportion of pre-school children with different levels of difficulties on the SDQ Total Difficulties scale by Home level of Area deprivation (Glasgow Quintiles)

SDQ presch tot SIMDChildren who lived in the areas of Glasgow City with the highest levels of deprivation (quintile 1) were twice as likely to have difficulties with social, emotional or behavioural development compared with children from the least deprived areas of Glasgow City.

Proportion of pre-school children with likely difficulties on the SDQ Total Difficulties scale by Home level of Area deprivation (Glasgow Quintiles) and gender

SDQ presch SIMD genderWhen area deprivation and gender are analysed together, we see that at every level of deprivation boys are substantially more likely to have difficulties than girls. Across both sexes, those in the most deprived areas were more likely than those in the least deprived areas to be in the Likely Difficulties groups. For example 12% of boys in the most deprived areas of Glasgow City had difficulties, compared with 7% in the least deprived areas: for girls this was 5% vs. 2%.

Proportion of P3 children with different levels of difficulties on the SDQ Total Difficulties scale by Home level of Area deprivation (Glasgow Quintiles)

SDQ P3 deprivation ComparisonThe proportion of children with possible and likely difficulties varied depending on the level of area deprivation in which the child lived. Children living in the highest levels of area deprivation had the highest proportions of difficulties: 9.9% having possible difficulties and 12.4% having likely difficulties, in contrast to children in the most affluent areas, 5% of whom had possible difficulties at P3 and 4% had likely difficulties.

Notes

The SDQ is a brief behavioural screening questionnaire for children. It covers five areas: Conduct Problems, Hyperactivity/inattention, Peer Relationship Problems, Emotional Symptoms and Pro-social Behaviours. The first four of these are rated negatively (that is, they pick up difficulties in children). These can be added together to give a Total Difficulties score, which shows an indication of overall difficulties that the child is experiencing. The final area, Pro-social Behaviours, is a positively scored scale, so it shows things the child does e.g. ‘is helpful if someone is hurt or upset’. The Total Difficulties score and the sub-scale scores can be split into groups which indicate whether a child has no difficulties, possible difficulties or likely difficulties. A global SDQ score of over 17 indicates a behavioural concern. If needs are identified via the SDQ, a set of impact questions is also completed in partnership with the parent or carer to gain a deeper insight into the impact of the current behaviour on the family.  

Deprivation – The deprivation quintiles applied are derived from a localised index of deprivation for Glasgow based on Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD, 2012 revision) rankings applied to Glasgow datazones. The purpose of creating this local index of deprivation is to be able to analyse an outcome against an even distribution of deprivation deciles.

SIMD – Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation provides a relative measure of deprivation based on indicators from seven domains – income, employment, health, education, access, housing, crime. The index identifies multiple deprivation for 6505 small areas (datazones) across Scotland. There have been four versions of SIMD to date. The initial index of 2004 (SIMD 2004) has been revised three times in 2006 (SIMD 2006), 2009 (SIMD 2009) and 2012 (SIMD 2012). For more information go to the SIMD site.

Further reading under ‘Psycho-social functioning’