Ungdata pluss: A new cohort study following children in Vestfold and Telemark

Ungdata pluss is a new longitudinal cohort study that will provide valuable knowledge for all working with public health, both preventive and health-promotion at local, regional and national level.

Background
The Ungdata pluss study is a new longitudinal cohort study that will follow children in Vestfold and Telemark from when they are 10–13-year-old and into adulthood. The study is a cooperation between Vestfold and Telemark County Municipalities, KORUS sør, NOVA at OsloMet, and The University of South-Eastern Norway.
The primary focus of Ungdata pluss is to investigate how children - and eventually as they become adolescents and young adults - use their leisure time, and how leisure time is associated with the development of children and young people's health and well-being, transitions related to education and work and other important outcomes in adulthood. The aim is to gain new knowledge into what can be done to ensure optimal prerequisites for well-being and societal participation for children and young adults, irrespective of their gender, place of upbringing, and socioeconomic status. The first data collection was carried out in 2023 and this is a brief presentation of the study and sample characteristics.

Methods
21 of 23 municipalities in the region agreed to participate in the study and all 5th, 6th and 7th graders from the participating municipalities were invited to participate. Approximately 50 % (N = 6049) of the invited children completed a questionnaire as a first data collection in 2023 (T1). The questionnaire included established and primarily validated measurements on topics such as: leisure time (e.g. digital, physical, organized, unorganized), health and well-being (e.g. satisfaction with life, self-esteem, emotion, meaning, disability), relational aspects (family, friends, school, teachers), neighborhood and community (satisfaction, safety, future orientation), travel to and from activities, individual characteristics (personality). Ungdata pluss consists of survey data (five waves) and registry data.

Results
The sample from T1 consists of 6049 children with an even proportion of girls (50 %) and boys (50 %). There is an even distribution of the different grades in our sample (5th graders - 33 %, 6th graders – 34 % and 7th graders 33 %). 55 % of the sample is from Vestfold while 45 % come from Telemark. In terms of what language is primarily spoken at home, 79 % of the sample speak only Norwegian, 18 % Norwegian and another language, while 3 % only speak a different language than Norwegian.

Conclusions
Due to its longitudinal design, Ungdata pluss has the potential to provide valuable additional knowledge to the regular Ungdata surveys, which are cross-sectional studies. Knowledge from Ungdata pluss is relevant for all working with public health, both preventive and health-promoting efforts at local, regional, and national levels.