Table 1.
Sociodemographic profile of the sample according to study location: parents and their pre-school children (age 2–5 years) attending children's centres in Cornwall (rural south-west England) and Islington (urban London borough)
| Characteristic | Total sample (n 261) | Cornwall (n 160) | Islington (n 101) | P |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child gender (%) | ||||
| Male | 52·5 | 50·6 | 55·4 | 0·449* |
| Female | 47·5 | 49·4 | 44·6 | |
| Child age (months) | ||||
| Mean | 32·3 | 31·9 | 32·9 | 0·496† |
| sd | 11·2 | 11·9 | 10·1 | |
| Parent gender (%) | ||||
| Male | 5·8 | 4·4 | 8·1 | 0·215* |
| Female | 94·2 | 95·6 | 91·9 | |
| Parent age (years) | ||||
| Mean | 33·5 | 32·6 | 34·8 | 0·01† |
| sd | 6·6 | 6·0 | 7·2 | |
| Marital status (%) | ||||
| Married or cohabiting | 77·6 | 89·2 | 58·8 | <0·01* |
| Single, divorced or widowed | 22·4 | 10·8 | 41·2 | |
| Ethnicity (%) | ||||
| White British | 75·3 | 93·1 | 46·5 | <0·01* |
| Other ethnicity | 24·7 | 6·9 | 53·5 | |
| Employment (%) | ||||
| Employed full-time | 12·0 | 6·9 | 20·0 | <0·01* |
| Employed part-time | 23·2 | 27·0 | 17·0 | |
| Unemployed | 13·5 | 6·9 | 24·0 | |
| Not working | 42·9 | 50·9 | 30·0 | |
| Other | 8·5 | 8·2 | 9·0 | |
| Level of education (%) | ||||
| Low | 31·6 | 31·2 | 32·3 | 0·295* |
| Medium | 36·8 | 40·1 | 31·2 | |
| High | 31·6 | 28·7 | 36·6 |
*Pearson χ 2 test.
†Independent-samples t test.