Socio-economic status, mental health difficulties and feelings about transition to secondary school among 10-11 year olds in Wales: multi-level analysis of a cross sectional survey

Moore, Graham ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6136-3978, Angel, Lianna, Brown, Rachel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4475-1733, van Godwin, Jordan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5288-6614, Hallingberg, Britt ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8016-5793 and Rice, Frances ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9484-1729 2021. Socio-economic status, mental health difficulties and feelings about transition to secondary school among 10-11 year olds in Wales: multi-level analysis of a cross sectional survey. Child Indicators Research 14 , pp. 1597-1615. 10.1007/s12187-021-09815-2

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Abstract

Transition between primary and secondary school represents an important milestone in young people’s development. While most young people look forward to this transition, it is a source of anxiety for many. Drawing on a nationally representative survey of 2218 children in 73 schools in Wales, this study aimed to understand the extent to which 10–11 year old children worried about and/or looked forward to their imminent transition to secondary school, the things they worried about and/or looked forward to, and how feelings about transition differed by socioeconomic status, as well as by emotional and behavioural difficulties. About a third of children reported being quite or very worried about transition to secondary school, while approximately two-thirds reported looking forward to it quite a bit or very much. These items were only moderately correlated, with many children both looking forward to and worrying about transition, or neither. Major sources of worry about transition centred around bullying and impact on existing friendships, while forming new friendships or joining existing friends in their new school were key things children looked forward to. Children from poorer backgrounds, attending poorer schools and reporting more emotional difficulties were significantly more likely to report worries about transition. Children from poorer families, and children reporting more emotional difficulties and behavioural difficulties, were less likely to look forward to transition. Interventions to support children in transition to secondary school need to be sensitive to the needs of children from poorer backgrounds and children with mental health difficulties.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education) MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics (CNGG) Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer)
Additional Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher:	Springer Verlag
ISSN:	1874-897X
Funders:	MRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2021
Date of Acceptance:	15 February 2021
Last Modified:	27 Mar 2024 07:32
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/140184

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