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CHAPTER TWO FAMILY CIRCUMSTANCES OF URBAN AND RURAL BABIES AND TODDLERS

Introduction

2.1 The overview report on the first results from the GUS study demonstrates the impact that variations in socio-demographic circumstances can have on the experiences of young children and their families. Of particular importance were:

• The age of the mother at the time the child was born. For example, younger mothers (under 20) were less likely than older mothers to have planned the pregnancy, attended ante-natal classes, breastfed or attended mother and toddler groups, while they were more likely to have higher levels of support from the child's grandparents, and to find it difficult to know who to ask for help with parenting.
• Family structure. Lone parents were slightly more likely than those in a couple family to report that their child had a long-term health problem or disability and that the child had been admitted to hospital as an in-patient. They were also more likely to have concerns about their child's development, learning and behaviour and to say they found it very difficult to pay for childcare.
• Parents' education. Mothers with higher levels of educational qualifications were more likely than those with no qualifications to breastfeed (at all and at 6 months), to have more children's books in the house and to engage in educational activities (like reading and looking at books) with the child more often.
• Parents' (particularly mother's) employment. Use of childcare was higher among families where one parent was working, and especially high when the mother was working.
• Family income. Children in families in the lowest income group are slightly more likely to have a long-term illness and less likely to have many children's books in their home, while their parents are more likely to say they find it difficult to pay for childcare and that they had little or no choice over their childcare provider(s).

2.2 In this chapter, we use GUS data to compare the circumstances of children and families in urban and rural areas across a range of socio-demographic factors.

Age of mother

2.3 Consistent with the different trends in fertility across the urban-rural spectrum (observed in Table 1, above), a smaller proportion of rural mothers in the GUS study had been teenage mothers. For example, in the birth cohort, 11% of mothers in remote rural areas were teenagers when their first child was born compared with 18% of mothers in large urban areas. Moreover, a larger proportion of mothers in rural areas were aged over 30 when their first child was born - 41% in remote rural areas in the toddler cohort, compared with 31% in large urban areas.

Table 3 Age of mother at birth of first child by urban-rural

2.4 Consistent with the fact that a somewhat larger proportion of rural mothers are older, fewer rural children were completely unplanned (16% of babies in remote rural areas compared with 26% in large urban areas).

First child?

2.5 While over half (52%) of mothers of babies in large urban areas were becoming a parent for the first time, the sample child was the first child for just 43% of mothers in remote rural areas (Table 4). This is consistent with the lower fertility rates in large urban areas, and with the notion that a shortage of affordable family housing in cities encourages some families to move to more rural areas as their family expands.

Table 4 Mothers/respondents who were first-time mothers by urban-rural

Family structure

2.6 In terms of the experience of the child, one of the most significant differences between urban and rural areas is the smaller proportion of rural babies and toddlers living in a one parent household. Just 7% of babies living in accessible and remote rural areas live in lone parent households, compared with 23% in large urban and 24% in other urban areas. For toddlers, the proportion in lone parent families (28%) is also higher in small accessible towns relative to either remote (10%) or accessible rural areas (14% - Table 5), while remote small towns are intermediate between urban and rural areas. As demonstrated in the overview report, being in a lone parent household is often associated with material and other kinds of disadvantage for parents and children.

Table 5 Family structure by urban-rural

2.7 The overview report (Anderson, Bradshaw, et al, 2007) demonstrated that children of teenage mothers are much more likely than those of older mothers to be in lone parent families. However, interestingly this appears to be less true of children born to young mothers in rural compared with urban areas. Figure 1 shows that in rural areas (accessible and remote combined), just a quarter of mothers in the birth cohort who had a child when they were under 20 are now lone parents, compared with 54% in large urban areas. The pattern was broadly similar for the toddler cohort, with 60% of teenage mothers in large urban areas now lone parents, compared with 33% in rural areas. ²

Figure 1 Percentage of (current/past) teenage mothers who are lone parents by urban-rural (% by cohort)

Base = All mothers who had a child when they were 20 or under

Sample size - Birth cohort: Large urban = 374, Other urban = 377, Small towns (remote and accessible combined) = 111, Rural (remote and accessible combined) = 92, All = 955

Sample size - Child cohort: Large urban = 179, Other urban = 155, Small towns = 71, Rural = 62

Parents' education

2.8 Respondents (usually the mother) in rural areas (particularly accessible rural areas) tend to be somewhat better qualified than those in urban areas (Table 6). For example, in our birth cohort 38% of mothers in accessible rural areas had degree-level qualifications, compared with 29% in large urban and just 19% in other urban areas. They are also less likely to have no qualifications at all - 15% of mothers of toddlers in large urban areas have no qualifications compared with just 4% in remote rural areas.

Table 6 Respondents/main carers' educational qualifications by urban-rural

Parents' employment

2.9 Babies and toddlers in rural areas were less likely than those in urban areas to be living in households in which no parent or carer was working. Fewer than 10% of rural children live in households with nobody in employment in comparison to nearly a quarter in large urban areas in both cohorts and around a fifth in other urban areas and accessible small towns (Table 7).

Table 7 Children in households with no parent or carer working by urban-rural

2.10 There was somewhat less variation in the proportion of babies and toddlers with a working mother across the urban-rural classification, with around six in ten mothers in all areas working either full or part-time. However, mothers of babies in rural areas are slightly more likely to be working, but to be doing so part-time than mothers of babies in urban areas (Table 8).

Table 8 Mothers working status by urban-rural

Family income and resources

2.11 A higher proportion of children in urban areas compared with those in rural areas live in low income households. Around a third of children in large or other urban areas live in households with incomes less than £15,000 a year in comparison to around one in five in accessible and remote rural areas. Accessible rural areas also have the highest proportion of children in high income families (24% of babies and 27% of toddlers). However, relatively few children in remote rural areas live in families with very high incomes (11% of babies and 12% of toddlers in remote rural areas compared with 20% and 23% of babies and toddlers respectively in large urban areas live in families with incomes of £44,000 or more). (Table 9).

Table 9 Children living in households in different income bands by urban-rural

2.12 Table 10 shows the proportion of babies and toddlers in urban and rural areas whose families have access to other key resources. Car ownership or access to 'the continuous use of a motor vehicle' varies between urban and rural areas. It is almost universal in remote rural areas (93% for the birth cohort, compared with 74% in large urban areas), perhaps making the small number of children in households without a car particularly disadvantaged in such areas. Rural children are also more likely than urban children to live in households with access to the internet, although such access is not yet universal. Access to a garden is almost universal across areas but the minority of children without gardens is understandably greater in large urban areas. Children having their own room varies more by socio-economic circumstances than by urban-rural differences.

Table 10 Children living in households with particular resources by urban-rural

2.13 In summary then, babies and toddlers in rural areas are:

• more likely than those in urban areas to be born to older mothers
• less likely to have been born as a result of an unplanned pregnancy
• less likely to be their mothers' first child
• less likely to live in lone parent households
• more likely to be born to mothers with degree-level qualifications and less likely to be born to mothers with no qualifications
• less likely to live in households where neither parent/carer works
• less likely to live in low income households
• more likely to live in households with access to a car, home internet and a garden.

2.14 As discussed, many of these factors are associated with different experiences and outcomes for young children. It is possible that any further variations we find between children in urban and rural areas may be explained by these overarching differences in family circumstances. Where appropriate, we use regression analysis to explore whether apparent differences between urban and rural children and families remain once we have controlled for some of these demographic differences between families living in different areas.

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