Children's Level of Living in Low-income Families 2006

The survey on children's standard of living in low-income families is commissioned by NOVA - Norwegian Social Research. It is part of a research collaboration about children and young people's level of living and welfare that was initiated in 2000 by NOVA and the Norwegian Women's Public Health Association (NKS). The objective of the survey is to gather information about the relationship between parent's economy and children's level of living, in their spare-time, at school and at home. It focuses on children's experiences of growing up in low-income families.

The survey is planned to be conducted in three rounds - 2003, 2006 and 2009. The panel consists of the respondents from 2003 that were not deceased and had not moved out of the country. In 2003, the age group of 6-9 years were interviewed indirectly through their parents. In 2006, all children (9-15) and their parents were interviewed directly.

Data was collected through a combination of personal interviews and self-completion forms. As far as it was possible, the interviews were conducted with both parents and children present at the same time. While one was interviewed, the other did the self-completion form. Children in the age group of 10-12 years were posed different questions than the age group og 13-15 years. These groups were also given different versions of the self-completion form.

The fact that parents, children and youth were asked slightly different questions in the survey, is naturally taken into consideration in constructing the variable groups. Each group of variables corresponds to a certain group or several groups of respondents, as indicated in the titles of the variable groups.