Investigating how critical transitions and events in children's lives affect their social and emotional development from the early years onwards

Children's lives go through many transitional experiences and events which may contribute important lasting influences on their social and emotional development. Increased understanding of the relationship between childhood development and these critical events will provide essential knowledge for fostering better wellbeing, and social and emotional outcomes for children in Scotland. A longitudinal analysis approach will be used to capture and investigate these experiences from the early years onwards to study any long-term effects. The primary investigative methods proposed is a quantitative analysis of longitudinal data from the 'Growing Up in Scotland' project. This dataset has been generating evidence about children's development by documenting wellbeing markers since 2005, making it an ideal informant about the long-term impacts of developmental variables because changes will be able to be tracked for over a decade for some participants. Previous scholarship using Growing Up in Scotland data is exceedingly vast including, but certainly not limited to, reports published featuring topics of: public health; urban landscapes; socioeconomic inequalities; and the impacts of domestic abuse on childhood wellbeing. This project will build upon scholarship in the fields of Social Policy and Social Work to form the theoretical groundings and shape the analytical directions of the research. Tackling inequalities and their exacerbations throughout childhood development is a primary motivation underpinning the project. Therefore, a social justice orientation will be applied to research design and analysis in hopes of producing knowledge productive to positive societal change and to benefit children from all backgrounds.

The interdisciplinary orientation and use of quantitative methods positions this project to produce a unique perspective on questions of social and emotional development. Quantitative methods provides the advantage of being able to utilise a large breadth of data and draw connections from children all across Scotland. The diversity of subject participants also means that the possible selection of independent variables to investigate is vast. Innovative approaches to longitudinal data analysis will be integrated into this project design, with the purpose of establishing a holistic understanding of how transitions affect future wellbeing. For example, how early indications of wellbeing outcomes may be lessened or worsened throughout later childhood depending on their interactions with transitional events and various environments. Research would be conducted cognisant of the policy implications of its findings, and hopefully contributing to the conversation and working in concert with both previous Growing Up in Scotland reports and related interdisciplinary childhood wellbeing literature.
Practical applications resulting from this research topic abound.Paramount to my motivation for its completion is to produce knowledge that informs Scottish policymakers and other non-governmental childhood wellbeing stakeholders - for example, the charity sector - to shape policy capable of tackling long-term social stratification. Robust holistic understanding of how early childhood events, like critical transitions, affect social and emotional development will provide indications for where interventions may produce the most positive impacts for combating inequalities and adverse developmental outcomes. I am hoping as part of this project to work on public communication and education about project outcomes to bridge the gap between research participants and the recipients of its findings. Beyond the direct contributions of this project, I hope to explore creative analytical approaches to longitudinal datasets and to further the development of advanced quantitative methodologies which can be applied to future research approaches.