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.

• Project lead and applicants: Prof. Dr. Andreas Klocke, Dr. Sven Stadtmüller, Robert Lipp
• Institution: Research Centre of Demographic Change at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences
• Project duration: Nov 2013 – Jun 2021
• Funded by: German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV)
• Study description (in German only): Gesundheitsverhalten und Unfallgeschehen im Schulalter (GUS)  

The edited survey data of the GUS study are available free of charge for research purposes in a de facto anonymous version as Scientific Use File. Prerequisite for access and use of the data is a valid Data Use Agreement. Please complete the application form and send it signed to the RDC LIfBi (fdz(at)lifbi.de). Within five working days, all persons involved in the agreement will receive an individual user ID and a password by e-mail. With this information, the login takes place on the website linked below. From there, the Scientific Use File provided with German and English labels in Stata and SPSS format can be downloaded at any time and as often as desired. Subsequent adjustments of the agreement regarding the duration and/or the persons involved have to be reported to the RDC LIfBi via the provided change form.

To ensure easy and appropriate use of the GUS data, a comprehensive documentation of the study and the Scientific Use File is available. In addition to the central Data Manual, the materials particularly include the instruments used in the field (only in German), an overview of the distribution of questions across the six survey waves, a codebook with the univariate frequencies for all variables of the Scientific Use File, and a report with further information on the variables generated in the data edition process (only in German). The documentation refers to the current data version 1.0. Questions regarding the use of GUS data can be addressed to the RDC LIfBi (fdz(at)lifbi.de) at any time.

Researchers working with the GUS data are obliged to indicate the use of the data and the utilized data version (DOI) in their publications by the following citation in the list of references:

In addition, it is obligatory to acknowledge the GUS study in general by including a phrase like this in the publication:

According to the Data Use Agreement (Art. 9), any kind of publication resulting from work with the GUS data has to be communicated to the RDC LIfBi immediately and unsolicited via e-mail to fdz(at)lifbi.de. A corresponding link or an electronic copy of the publication should be provided with the notification, if possible.