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Title:
1970 British Cohort Study: Sixteen-Year Follow-up, 1986
(Youthscan)

Series: (1970 British Cohort Study)

Subject Categories:
Primary, pre-primary and secondary - Education
1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) - Major studies
General - Health
Childbearing, family planning and abortion - Health
Leisure, tourism and sport - Society and culture
Child development and child rearing - Social stratification and groupings
Religion and values - Society and culture
Family life and marriage - Social stratification and groupings
Youth - Social stratification and groupings

Depositor(s):
Bynner, J.M., City University. Social Statistics Research Unit

Principal Investigator(s):
Butler, N., International Centre for Child Studies
Bynner, J.M., City University. Social Statistics Research Unit

Data Collector(s):
International Centre for Child Studies

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

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.

Abstract:
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 Archive) 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.

The CLS holds further information about the series on their British Cohort Study web pages, including details of publications and workshops.

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.

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 fourth edition (October 2008), revised data files were deposited. The CHES serial number has been removed. In the previous edition a new serial number for all respondents was added, 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.

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

Coverage:
Dates of Fieldwork: 1986-1987
Country: Great Britain
Spatial Units: (A)Countries; (B)Standard Regions; (C)Local Authority Areas; (D)Health Authority Regions/Districts
Observation Units: Individuals
Kind of Data: Textual data; Numeric data

Universe Sampled:
Location of Units of Observation:National
Population:BCS70 cohort members and their immediate family (parents and siblings); schools attended by BCS70 cohort members.

Methodology:
Time Dimensions: Longitudinal/panel/cohort
Sampling Procedures: 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.
Number of Units: 16,500 (target) 11,622 (obtained)
Method of Data Collection: 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.
Weighting: No weighting used

Language(s) of Written Materials:
Study Description: English
Study Documentation: English

Access:
Access Conditions: 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 for further information.
Availability: ESDS Longitudinal, UK Data Archive
Contact: Help desk: longitudinal@esds.ac.uk
Please Note: A fully documented database, which will contain all BCS70 data, is in preparation at CLS and will also 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 CLS British Cohort Study web pages

Date of Release:
First Edition: 14 June 1996
Latest Edition: 07 October 2008 ( 4th Edition )

Copyright:
Copyright Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Bedford Group, Institute of Education, University of London

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