Health literacy is the degree to which individuals can access, understand and use information in ways which promote and maintain good health. Inadequate health literacy is associated with low levels of education, poor health, increased use of health services, less use of preventative care, and increased mortality. Health literacy is an emerging and underfunded area and, to date, very little research has been done to address health literacy in childhood. The aim of the proposed project is to determine the factors in childhood that predict inadequate health literacy in young adults. The longer term objective is to use these factors to design community or public health interventions in childhood that improve health literacy early in life and continue to positively influence health throughout adult life. The proposed project will involve obtaining access to data from the existing ALSPAC study, from children aged 5-14 years and young adults aged 21-23 years. We have previously derived an indicator of health literacy from socio-demographic data in adults; we will use the same approach to assess health literacy in young adults, and investigate which factors in childhood predict a risk of inadequate health literacy in young adults. This innovative project will lay the foundations for developing future interventions in childhood that aim to improve health literacy in children which is crucial for life-long health and well-being.