The necessities of life for children.

This paper provides an analysis of questions on attitudes to necessities for the child items and activities in the 2012 PSE Attitudes to Necessities survey. For the purposes of this research, adults were asked whether children’s items were necessities or otherwise – the findings therefore represent what adults think children need. The paper, first, presents the overall proportions of the population viewing items as necessities, and where possible compares this to the proportion of the population viewing these items and activities as necessities in previous surveys. Following this, variations between different sub-groups of the population are explored. Another working paper (forthcoming) will provide evidence of the number and characteristics of children lacking these necessities