| SN: |
3535 |
| Title: |
1970 British Cohort Study: Sixteen-Year Follow-Up, 1986 |
| Alternative title: |
BCS4; BCS70; Youthscan |
| Persistent identifier: |
10.5255/UKDA-SN-3535-2 |
| Series: |
1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) |
| Depositor(s): |
University of London. Institute of Education. Centre for Longitudinal Studies |
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Principal investigator(s):
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Butler, N., International Centre for Child Studies
Bynner, J.M., City University. Social Statistics Research Unit
University of London. Institute of Education. Centre for Longitudinal Studies
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| Data collector(s): |
International Centre for Child Studies
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| Sponsor(s): |
Home Office
Cancer Research Campaign
Beechams
Kelloggs
Westland
HTV
Channel 4 Television
Allied Lyons
WT Grant Foundation
Sir J. Knott Settlement
Hayward Foundation
Daily Star (Newspaper)
New Moorgate Trust
Lankelly Foundation
Laura Ashley Trust
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| Other acknowledgements: |
International Centre for Child Studies in collaboration with some 17 Local Education Authorities and 218 Health Authorites (the employers of the health visitors, teachers, nurses and doctors who gathered the data). The Social Statistics Research Unit, City University, was responsible for cleaning and documenting the dataset. Plus other public and private bodies, and private donations. |
Primary, pre-primary and secondary - Education
General - Health
1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) - Major studies
Leisure, tourism and sport - Society and culture
Childbearing, family planning and abortion - Health
Religion and values - Society and culture
Child development and child rearing - Social stratification and groupings
Family life and marriage - Social stratification and groupings
Youth - Social stratification and groupings
Background
The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) began in 1970 when data were collected about the births and families of babies born in the United Kingdom in one particular week in 1970. The first wave, called the British Births Survey, was carried out by the National Birthday Trust Fund in association with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Its aims were to examine the social and biological characteristics of the mother in relation to neonatal morbidity, and to compare the results with those of the National Child Development Study (NCDS), which commenced in 1958 (held separately at the UK Data Archive under GN 33004). Participants from Northern Ireland, who had been included in the birth survey, were dropped from the study in all subsequent sweeps, which only included respondents from Great Britain.
Since BCS70 began, there have been seven full data collection exercises in order to monitor the cohort members' health, education, social and economic circumstances. These took place when respondents were aged 5, in 1975 (held under SN 2699), aged 10, in 1980 (SN 3723), aged 16, in 1986 (SN 3535), aged 26, in 1996 (SN 3833), aged 30, 1999-2000 (SN 5558), and aged 34, in 2004-2005 (SN 5585). The first two sweeps (at 5 and 10 years) were carried out by the Department of Child Health at Bristol University. During these times, the survey was known as the Child Health and Education Study (CHES). The 16-year survey was carried out by the International Centre for Child Studies and named Youthscan. The Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) became involved with the BCS70 study at this time, and eventually changed its name to the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), based at the Institute of Education, University of London. With each successive attempt, the scope of BCS70 has broadened from a strictly medical focus at birth, to encompass physical and educational development at the age of 5, physical, educational and social development at the ages of 10 and 16, and physical, educational, social and economic development at 26 years and beyond. Further information about the BCS70 and may be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies website. As well as BCS70, the CLS now also conducts the NCDS series.
Response dataset:
A separate dataset covering response to BCS70 over all seven waves is available under SN 5641, 1970 British Cohort Study Response Dataset, 1970-2005. Users are advised to order this study alongside the other waves of BCS70.
Subsample, supplementary and related studies
A range of sub-sample and supplementary surveys have also been conducted, such as the Ten-year Follow-up Special Needs Survey (held under SN 7064) and a supplementary survey of head teachers (held under SN 5225) at the time of the 16-year follow-up in 1986. A related study, Coding of Text Data from BCS70 at 10 and 16 Years: Health Care Utilisation of School Aged Children, 1970-1986, is also held under SN 4126. The aim of this project was to code text variables from BCS70 files, selected from the ten- and 16-year follow-ups to provide information about health care utilisation by the target age group.
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The BCS70 Sixteen-Year Follow-up
The purpose of this study, the sixteen-year follow-up, was to review and evaluate adolescent (mid-teenage) health, care, education, social and family environment throughout Great Britain, as experienced by the BCS70 cohort.
After consultation with the depositor, several files previously available with this study have been temporarily withdrawn. These files cover the leisure and dietary diary files and extra demographics. The Centre for Longitudinal Studies is currently working on documentation for these files, which will become available to users again once the new documentation is ready.
At the time of the sixteen-year follow-up, a parallel survey was also conducted with head teachers of schools likely to be attended by cohort members. The main impetus behind this was to find out more about these schools, especially as many of the cohort members were about to leave full-time education. The head teacher questionnaires were not able to be keyed, documented and deposited at the time of the survey due to lack of resources, but funding finally became available in 2004/5 to complete this task at CLS. The resulting dataset is archived under SN 5225.
For the fifth edition (May 2013) a new derived variables data file was deposited with accompanying documentation, and existing data files edited accordingly. See the documents covering Derived Variables and Region Variables for further details.
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Main Topics:
Subjects covered include:- cohort members: exercise and sport; hygiene; diet (including 4-day diary); activity diary (4-day); leisure activities; family life; religion; leaving home; money; smoking; alcohol; laterality; television, video and radio; friends and social behaviour; law and order; sexual behaviour; self-esteem; health status; medical history; attitudes to health and emotions; drug use; school; occupational interests; reading, spelling and vocabulary tests; mathematics tests; life-skills test (education, training and employment)
- parents: health status; family health; chronic illness and disability; medication; accidents and injuries; use of health services; social experience; father's occupation; mother's occupation; parental situation; family finances; household amenities; accommodation type; number of rooms; neighbourhood; alcohol consumption; smoking; performance at school; life skills; behaviour
- medical: special requirements; chronic illness and disability; psychological/psychiatric problems; medical examination; blood pressure; distant and near vision tests; motor co-ordination tests; audiometry; height and weight; head circumference
- school: curriculum; teaching methods; special education; teacher's assessment of behaviour; academic achievement; academic potential; absences from school
Standard Measures
The data includes the following scales administered to the BCS70 cohort members: Rutter A Scale of Behavioural Deviance and the Malaise Inventory (Rutter, M. et al., 1970); Hyperactivity/Behavioural Scale (Connors, 1964); 12 item General Health Questionnaire (Goldberg, 1978); Lawseq (Self-esteem Scale); Caraloc (Locus of Control Scale); 21 general and specific attitudinal scales; Index of Mental Health (Rosenberg, 1965).
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Dates of fieldwork:
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1986, 1987 |
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Country:
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Great Britain
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Spatial units:
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Countries
Health Authority Regions
Local Authority Districts
Standard Statistical Regions
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Observation units:
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Individuals
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Kind of data:
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Textual
Numeric
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Universe:
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National
Adolescents
BCS70 cohort members and their immediate family (parents and siblings); schools attended by BCS70 cohort members.
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Time dimensions:
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Longitudinal/panel/cohort
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Sampling procedures:
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No sampling (total universe)
An attempt was made to trace all the BCS70 cohort members through the cooperation of Local Education Authorities and Family Practitioner Committees (RCs and HBs in Scotland). Some 70% of the 1970 Cohort were traced and completed one or more survey documents.
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Number of units:
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16,500 (target) 11,622 (obtained)
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Method of data collection:
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Face-to-face interview; Self-completion; Psychological measurements; Clinical measurements; Diaries
The health visitor and parent were interviewed face-to-face. The child, parent and teacher were given self-completion questionnaires. The child psychological measurements were collected by self-completion. The school doctor conducted the child's medical examination. The child was asked to complete a four-day diet diary.
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Weighting:
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No weighting used
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Publications based on BCS70 may be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies website.
Chamberlain, G., et al. (1975) British births 1970, London: Heinemann.
Crawley, H.F. (1993) 'The energy, nutrient and food intakes of teenagers 16-17 years in Britain: 1. energy, macronutrients and non-starch polysaccharides', British Journal of Nutrition, 70, pp. 15-26.
Crawley, H.F. (1993) 'The role of breakfast cereals in the diets of 16-17 year-old teenagers in Britain', Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 6, pp. 39-50.
Furlong, A. (1993) Schooling for jobs: changes in the career preparation of British secondary school children, Aldershot: Avebury.
Lewis, S., et al. (1995) 'Prospective study of risk factors for early and persistent wheezing in childhood', European Respiratory Journal, 8, pp.349-356.
Goodman, A. and Butler N. R. (1996) The 1970 British Cohort Study: the Sixteen-year Follow-up - a guide to the BCS70 16-year data available at the Economic and Social Research Council Data Archive, London: Social Statistics Research Unit, City University.
Butler, N., Despotidou, S., and Shepherd, P. (1997) 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) Ten-year Follow-up (formerly known as the Child Health and Education Study, CHES): a guide to the BCS 10-year data available at the Economic and Social Research Council Data Archive, London: Social Statistics Research Unit, City University.
Bynner, J., Ferri, E. and Shepherd, P. (1997) Twenty-something in the 1990s: getting on, getting by, getting nowhere, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Kallis, C. (2004) CLS Cohort Studies Data Note 4: BCS70 partnership histories, Centre for Multilevel Modelling, Bedford Group for Lifecourse and Statistical Studies, Institute of Education, University of London.
Steele, F., et al. (2005) 'The relationship between childbearing and transitions from marriage and cohabitation in Britain', Demography, 42.
Steele, F., et al. (2005) 'Changes in the relationship between the outcomes of cohabiting partnerships and fertility among young British women: evidence from the 1958 and 1970 Birth Cohort Studies', paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, Philadelphia, 2005.
