Health Behavior and Injuries in School Age

The “Health Behavior and Injuries in School Age” study (Gesundheitsverhalten und Unfallgeschehen im Schulalter, GUS) focuses on the identification and analysis of causes of accidents and injuries in the school context. Based on a nationwide representative sample - with the exception of Bavaria and Hamburg - the panel survey includes around 10,000 students and covers a total of six survey waves from 2014 to 2020. The GUS study aims in particular to uncover causal patterns of injuries in school sports, in the schoolyard, in the school building, and on the way to and from school. Besides detailed information on the health and accident biographies of the participants, the survey program comprises a large number of additional indicators that are suitable for investigating further research questions with regard to everyday school life and developments relevant to education from the 5th grade onwards. Information on the personality, the family environment, the academic performance and the social situation of the students are part of this as well as data from the survey of involved heads of schools and interviewers.

The GUS study was planned and conducted by the Research Centre of Demographic Change (Forschungszentrum Demografischer Wandel, FZDW) at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences with funding from the German Social Accident Insurance (Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, DGUV). The data were then processed into a user-friendly Scientific Use File within the framework of an initiative of the Consortium for the Social, Behavioral, Educational and Economic Sciences (KonsortSWD) to support researchers in making relevant data resources available for secondary use. Together with a comprehensive documentation, the GUS data were provided to the Research Data Center at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (Forschungsdatenzentrum, RDC LIfBi) for further stewardship and dissemination to the scientific community.