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Title:
1970 British Cohort Study: Partnership Histories, 1986-2000
(BCS70: Partnership Histories, 1986-2000)

Subject Categories:
Family life and marriage - Social stratification and groupings
1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) - Major studies
Childbearing, family planning and abortion - Health
Child development and child rearing - Social stratification and groupings

Depositor(s):
University of London. Institute of Education. Centre for Longitudinal Studies

Principal Investigator(s):
Elliott, J., University of London. Institute of Education. Centre for Longitudinal Studies

Sponsor(s):
Economic and Social Research Council

Other Acknowledgements:
The project to create these partnership histories was conducted by Constantinos Kallis and Dr. Fiona Steele of the Centre for Multilevel Modelling within the Bedford Group for Lifecourse and Statistical Studies, Institute of Education.

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 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.

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.

Partnership histories
The ESRC-funded project associated with this partnership histories dataset was concerned with preparation of continuous partnership histories for female members of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) between ages 16-30, using data collected at age 30. It is based on one wave of the BCS70 data, collected during the 1999/2000 follow-up (held as SN 4396 'National Child Development Study and 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) Follow-ups, 1999-2000'). The data were derived from existing deposited data using a STATA algorithm described in the accompanying documentation (see 'CLS Cohort Studies Data Note 4' in the table below). The resulting dataset contains all female cohort members with validated partnership history and it has been used for the analysis of the link between partnership and childbearing processes and the link between partnership formation and partnership outcomes. A corresponding dataset for the National Child Development Study (NCDS) series was also produced during the project, and is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 5217 'National Child Development Study (NCDS) Sweeps 5-6 Partnership Histories, 1974-2000'.

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.


Main Topics:
Each record in the partnership histories dataset provides details of the start and end dates of each partnership episode of female cohort members, together with information on the nature of the partnership (cohabitation or marriage), and the type of transition to another state (separation, death of partner or marriage).

Dataset variables are as follows:

Coverage:
Time Period Covered: 1986-2000
Country: Great Britain
Spatial Units: No spatial units
Observation Units: Individuals; Individuals
Kind of Data: Numeric data; Individual (micro) level

Universe Sampled:
Location of Units of Observation:National
Population:Each record provides details of the start and end dates of each partnership episode of female BCS70 cohort members from 1986-2000.

Methodology:
Time Dimensions: Longitudinal/panel/cohort
Sampling Procedures: Cases were selected were all female BCS70 cohort members with at least one partnership reported between the ages of 16 and 30.
Number of Units: 5,613
Method of Data Collection: Compilation or synthesis of existing material;derived from existing data
Weighting: No weighting used
Data Sources: Data were taken from the sixth sweep of NCDS6 and the BCS70 29-year follow-up (see under SNs 5558 and 5578).

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. 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: 29 July 2005
Latest Edition: 14 August 2008 ( 2nd Edition )

Copyright:
Copyright Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Bedford Group for Lifecourse and Statistical Studies, Institute of Education

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