The Growing Up in Scotland study ( GUS) is an important and ambitious new longitudinal research project aimed at tracking the lives of a cohort of Scottish children from the early years, through childhood and beyond. Funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department, its principal aim is to provide information to support policy-making, but it is also intended to be a broader resource that can be drawn on by academics, voluntary sector organisations and other interested parties. This report provides an overview of the results from the first sweep of the survey (carried out between April 2004 and March 2005). As such, its aims are relatively modest; to provide descriptive analysis relating to the characteristics, circumstances and attitudes of the families who took part in the research and to highlight the potential for more detailed analyses as additional data accrues across subsequent sweeps of the research.