What happens next

We would like your permission to link your child’s genetic information to information on mental wellbeing so that we may improve understanding of how genes and environment affect mental health.

This lets us build a more complete picture and will ultimately help us improve the health and wellbeing of young people across Wales.

We link information securely and anonymously using ID numbers rather than your child’s name. All information is held securely according to data storage regulations at Cardiff University.

Information on mental wellbeing and environment

If we have your permission, we would link genetic information to wellbeing information collected from questionnaires in schools. This includes anonymous answers on a variety of topics, including food, fitness, wellbeing, emotional health, and relationships with others.

We would also like to link genetic information to other information routinely collected by organisations like schools, the NHS and other government departments. This would include broader information like the number of times someone has gone to hospital for an asthma attack or whether someone has been given a diagnosis of a mental health condition.

We would never have access to very specific personal information like the notes written by doctors or other professionals.

Linking information would be done using anonymous data (without names or any identifying information). Researchers who carry out this work do so without ever knowing the identities of the individuals in the data.

Storage

All information collected from your child during the course of this study will be stored securely at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics. The DNA in the spit samples will be stored and analysed at the MRC Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Genomics labs.

All data collected will be kept confidentially in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (2018). Only the study team will have access to your child’s identifiable data. There are strict laws that safeguard your child’s privacy at every stage.

Any information about your child’s identity obtained from this research will be stored:

• securely - we use ID numbers instead of names
• separately from any data collected from your child
• anonymously - meaning we will remove anything that can identify your child from the data provided.

Further information

You can find more information on how we manage your child's data in our information sheet.