1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) - Major studies
Childbearing, family planning and abortion - Health
Child development and child rearing - 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. A supplementary survey of head teachers (held separately under SN 5225) was also conducted at the time of the 16-year follow-up in 1986. 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. As well as BCS70, the CLS now also conducts the NCDS series.
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.
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.
Sub-sample surveys
In addition to the full cohort studies, four sub-sample surveys have been carried out. The first two, carried out in 1972 and 1973 and collectively named the British Births Child Survey, (held under SNs 2666 and 2690) followed sub-samples of the original cohort at ages 22 months and 42 months. The sub-samples consisted of all twins in the original cohort, the 'small-for-dates' and 'post-mature' births, and a 10% random sample of the original cohort. The third sub-sample survey (not currently held at the UKDA) was carried out in 1977 when 1,917 non-respondents from the five-year survey were traced and interviewed in an attempt to assess the effect of non-response. In 1992, when the cohort members were aged 21 years, a 10% sample survey (held under SN 4715) was carried out, that focused on adult literacy and numeracy problems as well as the transition from school to work.
Further information about the BCS70 can be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies website.
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 10- and 16-year follow-ups to provide information about health care utilisation by the target age group.
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BCS70 County Data, 1986, 1996 and 2000: Special Licence Access
This dataset contains county-level data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) follow-up surveys conducted at ages 16, 26 and 30 years, which are held at the UK Data Archive (UKDA) under:- SN 3535 - 1970 British Cohort Study: Sixteen-year Follow-up, 1986
- SN 3833 - 1970 British Cohort Study: Twenty Six-Year Follow-Up, 1996
- SN 5558 - 1970 British Cohort Study: Twenty-Nine Year Follow-up, 1999-2000
These county data are not included with the main datasets listed above, and are only available under a Special Licence, which has more restrictive access conditions than the standard End User Licence used for the main BCS70 datasets (see 'Access' section below). Please contact the HelpDesk for further details.
For the second edition (August 2008), the serial number has been replaced with a new one, variable Bcsid. This change has been made for all datasets in the BCS70 series. Further information may be found in the 'CLS Confidentiality and Data Security Review', included in the documentation.
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Main Topics:
The BCS70 County Data provide county-level geographic data at 1981, 1996 and 2000 boundaries, and linking variables for all respondents to the 1986, 1996 and 2000 BCS70 follow-up surveys. See documentation for further details.
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Dates of fieldwork:
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Data were originally collected at the 1986, 1996 and 2001 BCS70 follow-ups. |
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Country:
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United Kingdom
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Spatial units:
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Council Areas
Counties
Counties (Metropolitan)
London Boroughs
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Observation units:
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Individuals
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Kind of data:
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Numeric
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Universe:
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National
Respondents to the 1986, 1996 and 2000 BCS70 follow-up surveys.
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Time dimensions:
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Longitudinal/panel/cohort
Longitudinal/panel/cohort
covers three waves of BCS70.
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Sampling procedures:
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No sampling (total universe)
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Number of units:
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1986 file: 11,621 cases. 1996 file: 9,003 cases. 2000 file: 11,261 cases.
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Method of data collection:
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Compilation or synthesis of existing material
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Weighting:
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No weighting used.
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Date of release:
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First edition:
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24 November 2006
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Latest edition:
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14 August 2008 ( Edition 2 )
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Copyright:
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Copyright Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London
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Access conditions:
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The depositor has specified that registration is required and standard conditions of use apply. The depositor may be informed about usage.
Additional special conditions of use also apply. See terms and conditions of access for further information.
In addition, the UK Data Service is required to request permission from the depositor prior to supplying the data.
Available to UK applicants only.
Please note:
Since these data pose a higher risk of disclosure than data made available under the standard End User Licence they have additional special conditions attached to them that take the form of a Special Licence (SL). The SL requires the completion of an additional application form, agreement to the conditions of the SL, the signature(s) of the researcher(s) and the institution(s) with responsibility for the researcher(s), and the explicit permission of the data owners to release the data to the researcher(s). This is to ensure that the guarantee of confidentiality given to survey respondents is protected. SL applications are screened by the UK Data Service and the data owners and data are only released to those researchers requiring data for statistical research purposes and who can justify their need for the SL data.
Researchers are required to keep the data under conditions of greater security than required under the standard End User Licence. The guide, Microdata handling and security: guide to good practice, explains how to meet these conditions.
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Please note:
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A fully documented database, which will contain all BCS70 data, is in preparation at CLS and may be made available via the UKDA. Until then, it is possible to obtain data not already held at the UKDA from the CLS directly via:
BCS70 User Support Group, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H OAL.
Tel: 0207 612 6864
Fax: 0207 612 6880
Email: cohort@cls.ioe.ac.uk
Further information can also be obtained from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies website.
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Availability:
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UK Data Service
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Contact:
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Get in touch
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Publications
A searchable bibliography 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.
