CHAPTER SIX CONCLUSION
6.1 Our analysis highlights many similarities between contemporary family life in urban and rural areas. Mothers in rural areas are just as likely to be in paid employment as mothers in urban areas. Moreover, the range of circumstances in which children live (in terms of family structure, income, etc.) varies within both urban and rural areas. Nevertheless, the findings suggest some important differences in how typical particular circumstances are for rural and urban children, with children in rural areas somewhat more likely to live in favourable socio-economic circumstances than their urban counterparts. Fewer children in rural Scotland are growing up in households in which no parent is working. While over a third of children in large urban areas live in very low income households this is true for just one in five children in rural areas. Moreover, rural mothers are less likely to have been teenage mothers and are less likely to be lone parents (both factors commonly associated with socio-economic disadvantage) than urban mothers. Rural mothers are also less likely to have no qualifications than their urban counterparts. There are also some differences in how typical particular circumstances are between accessible and remote rural areas. For example, accessible rural areas have the highest proportion of children living in very affluent households while remote rural areas have the lowest.
6.2 Measures of health and well-being do not generally suggest that rural or small town environments are associated with healthier children or children advantaged in their early development. Mothers in rural areas are no less likely to report that their child suffers from a long lasting health problem or disability than mothers in urban areas. On the other hand, more rural children have non-smoking mothers and are, or have been, breastfed, and fewer rural babies watch television. But at least some of this variation is explained by differences in maternal education, income and age rather than the rural environment as such.
6.3 Assuming the attention of grandparents enriches children's lives, a larger proportion of children in rural areas, and particularly remote rural areas, are disadvantaged by the absence of a grandparent living locally. On the other hand, they may have more contact with parents' friends. Greater frequency of visiting friends with children and of attendance at mother and toddler groups suggest that children in rural areas may have lives that are at least as 'child rich' as children in urban areas.
6.4 There are some interesting differences between urban and rural areas in use of services and advice, not all of which can be easily explained at this stage in the GUS study. Children in remote small towns stand out as the least likely to have had general health problems involving the NHS but the most likely to have accidents for which a parent sought medical attention. Mothers in disadvantaged circumstances are generally less likely to attend ante-natal classes, but lack of access to ante-natal classes is a particular issue in rural areas and has some impact across mothers of all socio-economic circumstances. Again, there also seem to be particular issues around remote small towns where attendance at ante-natal classes is low. More mothers in rural areas than in urban areas used written and electronic sources of help and advice concerning pregnancy.
6.5 Use of childcare reflects the different mix of service providers available in urban and rural areas, with lower use of nurseries and crèches and a higher use of playgroups and childminders in rural Scotland. There is some evidence that mothers of babies in remote rural areas are more likely to use childcare for a wider range of reasons than simply allowing them to work - for example, mothers of toddlers in remote rural areas may use child care as one means of ensuring their children have social time with other children.
6.6 In summary then, while babies and children across all areas live in different types of families and experience different socio-economic circumstances, sweep 1 of GUS suggests that children in rural areas are somewhat more likely to live in favourable socio-economic circumstances than their urban counterparts. This is associated with greater exposure to positive parental behaviours such as breastfeeding among rural babies. However, in many other respects the early experiences of children in urban and rural areas in terms of service use, health problems and contact with significant others are not very different. Moreover, other evidence suggests that families in rural areas may be relatively disadvantaged in terms of easy access to ante natal classes and having grandparents living nearby, for example.
6.7 This report is just a beginning in terms of building up a richer picture of similarities and differences in the experiences of children and their families in urban and rural Scotland. As future sweeps of GUS become available, we will be able to track the experiences of children living in different areas of Scotland, exploring in more detail differences in their development and well-being to help tailor services and policies for children living across the whole of Scotland.