The life chances of young people in Scotland: evidence review

Footnotes

i Relative poverty is defined as a household income below 60% of the UK median - see the Appendix A for more detail.

ii The average loan balance on entry into repayment.

iii The Youth Employment Rate is the number of employed people aged 16-24 (including full-time students) divided by the whole population aged 16-24; the Youth Unemployment Rate is the percentage of the active labour force aged 16-24 (including full-time students) that cannot find work. For European comparisons of youth employment, age 15-24 is used. See Appendix A.

iv Young people in education who are not working or seeking work are not counted as part of the "active" population (defined as those in employment or seeking work), on which the unemployment rate is based.

v To be classified as underemployed in the data, a person must satisfy three criteria during the reference period: were willing to work more hours (meaning they either wanted to work more hours in their current job (the majority), wanted a new job with more hours, or an additional job), were available to work additional hours, and worked less than a specified number of hours.

vi A positive destination includes higher education, further education, training, voluntary work, employment and activity agreements, whilst 'other' destinations include unemployed seeking/not seeking, and unknown.

vii It is anticipated that as the Participation Measure develops, the level of those aged 18-19 with an unconfirmed status will decrease. Furthermore SDS is working with Scottish Government and HMRC to obtain more comprehensive data on those in employment. This should bring benefits in reducing the number of unconfirmed statuses.

viii SDS's 'Analysis of Outcomes for 2012/13 School Leavers' provides an analysis of the journey of the 2012/13 school leaver cohort over three years from the point of leaving school (October 2013) through to October 2016. It examined the differences in progression to further learning, training or work, according to a number of key variables, including stage of leaving (statutory/non-statutory) and SIMD.

ix FE is defined as study at SCQF levels 1-6, whilst HE is defined as study at SCQF levels 7 or above (including HNC and HND qualifications).

x SDS is currently undertaking work that looking at longer term outcomes for MAs.

xi Scottish Government analysis of the Scottish Health Survey 2008-11 to 2012-15 for age 16-24.

xii Wellbeing is measured using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS), a scale developed to enable the monitoring of mental wellbeing in the general population. It has 14 items designed to assess: positive affect and satisfying interpersonal relationships and positive functioning. The scale uses positively worded statements with a five-item scale ranging from '1 - none of the time' to '5 - all of the time'. The lowest score possible is therefore 14 and the highest score possible is 70.

xiii Scottish Government analysis of the Scottish Health Survey 2008-11 to 2012-15 for age 16-24. N.B. In both periods these questions are asked of a sub-sample only. However, the data collection method has changed over time. In 2008-2011 they were asked as part of a nurse interview; from 2012 onwards they are part of the survey biological module, where participants answer the questions themselves via computer assisted self-interviewing. The change in mode of data collection may have impacted responses: there is a possibility that observed changes in prevalence across this period may, in part, reflect the change in mode rather than any real change in the population.

xiv Including prevalence of 'children' (defined as those under age 18) reported to the children's reporter on offence grounds, and children and young people in custody.

xv APS, December 2015

xvi GHQ-12 is a widely used standard measure of mental distress and psychological ill-health consisting of 12 questions on concentration abilities, sleeping patterns, self-esteem, stress, despair, depression, and confidence in the previous few weeks. Scores on the GHQ-12 items are combined to create an overall score of between zero and twelve. A score of four or more is used to indicate the presence of a possible psychiatric disorder.

xvii The 'Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire' (SDQ) gives a measure of overall mental health and wellbeing along with scores for five separate scales covering: emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems, and pro-social behaviour.

xviii Data from schools that use the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring's (CEM) Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) assessment was analysed. Over 1,100 schools in Scotland use the PIPS assessment to assess the progress children make in P1 in early maths, early literacy and non-cognitive development and behaviour.

xix SDS's 'Analysis of Outcomes for 2012/13 School Leavers' provides an analysis of the journey of the 2012/13 school leaver cohort over three years from the point of leaving school (October 2013) through to October 2016. It examined the differences in progression to further learning, training or work, according to a number of key variables, including stage of leaving (statutory/non-statutory) and SIMD.

xx The Open University is excluded from this analysis as its entrants are primarily part-time.

xxi Scottish Government analysis of Scottish Health Survey 2008-11 to 2012-15 for age 16-24

xxii Scottish Government analysis of APS data for 16-24 year olds by ethnicity