Baseline characteristics in the years before Universal Credit was introduced
| Comparison group | Intervention group | P value | |
| (N=3396) | (N=222) | ||
| SDQ | |||
| Socioemotional behavioural difficulties | 256 (7.5%) | 33 (14.9%) | – |
| No difficulties | 3140 (92.5%) | 189 (85.1%) | 0.0029 |
| continuous SDQ score | 7.8 (0.1) | 9.6 (0.4) | 0.0001 |
| Childcare usage | |||
| Yes | 1662 (48.9%) | 42 (18.9%) | – |
| No | 1734 (51.1%) | 180 (81.1%) | <0.0001 |
| Log of household income | 8.2 (0.1) | 7.6 (0.1) | <0.0001 |
| Age, years | |||
| Age 5 | 1758 (51.8%) | 107 (48.2%) | – |
| Age 8 | 1638 (48.2%) | 115 (51.8%) | 0.3046 |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 1755 (51.7%) | 108 (48.6%) | – |
| Female | 1641 (48.3%) | 114 (51.4%) | 0.3834 |
| Long-term health condition | |||
| Excellent | 2003 (59.0%) | 118 (53.2%) | – |
| Very good | 1031 (30.4%) | 67 (30.2%) | – |
| Good | 276 (8.1%) | 26 (11.7%) | – |
| Fair | 68 (2.0%) | 9 (4.1%) | – |
| Poor | 18 (0.5%) | 2 (0.9%) | 0.0182 |
| Mothers’ degree | |||
| Degree | 1256 (37.0%) | 40 (18.0%) | – |
| Other higher | 514 (15.1%) | 19 (8.6%) | – |
| A level | 686 (20.2%) | 29 (13.1%) | – |
| GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) | 723 (21.3%) | 82 (36.9%) | – |
| Other qualification | 119 (3.5%) | 15 (6.8%) | – |
| No qualification | 98 (2.9%) | 37 (16.7%) | <0.0001 |
| Mothers’ mental health (General Health Questionnaire-12 score) | 1.7 (0.1) | 2.83 (0.3) | <0.0001 |
| Single child in the household | |||
| Yes | 455 (13.4%) | 17 (7.7%) | – |
| No | 2941 (86.6%) | 205 (92.3%) | 0.0025 |
Note: Data are n (%) or mean (SD). We defined clinically significant psychological distress as a score of greater than 16 on the SDQ.
SDQ, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.