There is currently no single data source to support the comparative analysis of the wellbeing of children and young people across Europe as they grow up. Some European countries have regularly invested in cohort surveys and have benefited from analyses drawn from longitudinal studies, such as Growing Up in Ireland, the British Cohort Studies, the French Longitudinal Study of Children, the Danish Longitudinal Survey of Children, and the National Education Panel on Early Education and Schooling in Germany. The merits of collecting national longitudinal data are widely recognised, and yet the current studies are not easily comparable as they contain different questions and are conducted at different times and on different age groups.

Growing Up in Digital Europe (GUIDE) is Europe’s first comparative birth cohort study of children’s and young people’s wellbeing. The aim of the GUIDE study is to track children’s personal wellbeing and psychosocial development, in combination with key indicators of children’s homes, neighbourhoods, and schools, across Europe. Together these measurements will enable researchers from multiple fields to analyse how children’s wellbeing develops in response to children’s experiences of growing up in different European Member States. The harmonized design will create the first internationally comparable, nationally representative, longitudinal study of children and young people in Europe. GUIDE will be an important source of evidence in developing social policies for children, young people, and families across Europe for many years to come.

 

 

GUIDE has been developed by a team of experts who represent the different scientific communities for whom the data will be essential for understanding how best to improve child wellbeing: namely regarding longitudinal survey methodology, child and youth development and wellbeing, demography, economics, psychology and sociology. The EU recognises the importance of high quality survey data to inform policy development through its investment in The Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), and the Generations and Gender Programme. These surveys span the life-course from age 18 onwards, therefore GUIDE will fill an important gap by providing data from birth to 24.

Currently the GUIDE RI is in its preparatory phase, which involves the establishment of necessary operational procedures and further crystallisation of the study concept and design. To realise the GUIDE full-scale pilot in 2026 and first wave of fieldwork in 2027, the RI needs to develop administratively, technologically, financially, scientifically, and legally. This GUIDEPREP proposal lays out clear aims for these developments in an interlocking system of activities that are shared across consortium partners and managed by the GUIDE leadership team.

GUIDE has developed through a series of projects funded by the European Commission, MYWeB (GA 613368), the European Cohort Development Project (GA 777449), and COORDINATE- the COhort cOmmunity Research and Development Infrastructure Network (GA 101008589) and GUIDE PREP- Growing Up in Digital Europe Preparatory Phase (GA 101078945).

 

 

Team at RECSM: Diana Zavala-Rojas, Hannah Schwarz

Find the official GUIDE website here: https://www.guidecohort.eu/ 

Find the official project website here: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101078945