Cohort profile: 1958 British birth cohort (national child development study)

C Power, J Elliott - International journal of epidemiology, 2006 - academic.oup.com
C Power, J Elliott
International journal of epidemiology, 2006academic.oup.com
The 1958 birth cohort or the National Child Development Study (NCDS) began as a study of
Perinatal Mortality focussing on just over 17 000 births in a single week in 1958. To address
concerns regarding the stillbirth rate not falling, the original study aimed to identify social
and obstetric factors linked to stillbirth and neonatal death. The findings contributed to the
improvement of maternity services in Britain and to a reduction in perinatal mortality. 1 The
initial survey was not planned as a longitudinal study, but subsequently the National …
The 1958 birth cohort or the National Child Development Study (NCDS) began as a study of Perinatal Mortality focussing on just over 17 000 births in a single week in 1958. To address concerns regarding the stillbirth rate not falling, the original study aimed to identify social and obstetric factors linked to stillbirth and neonatal death. The findings contributed to the improvement of maternity services in Britain and to a reduction in perinatal mortality. 1 The initial survey was not planned as a longitudinal study, but subsequently the National Children’s Bureau was commissioned by the Central Advisory Council for Education (The Plowden Committee) to retrace the cohort at age 7 and monitor their educational, physical, and social development. 2 Further surveys took place when children were aged 11 and 16. 3, 4 This cohort was educated during a period when there was considerable debate about the nature of primary schooling, the selection for secondary school (the ‘eleven-plus’) was being abolished, and the comprehensive sector of secondary schooling was expanding. The school leaving age was raised to 16 yr in 1973 making cohort members part of the first year group required to stay on at school for an extra year. Divorce rates, though rising during the 1960s, were still relatively low and most of this cohort lived with both parents throughout their childhood. In other respects, the cohort grew up in an environment which differed from that experienced by children today, with proportionately more children living in houses that lacked basic amenities, although access to welfare provision, such as free school meals, was available. Breast-feeding was relatively common, and so too was maternal smoking in pregnancy. This generation was not exposed to the levels of childhood obesity seen nowadays and rates of teenage drug taking were low. Followed into adult life, the cohort had reached a life stage marked by major transitions—for example from school or fulltime further education to employment (although unemployment was very high), and from dependent status in their family of origin to independent status as heads of new households. A survey at age 23 (1981) was designed to trace these transitions, and in so doing it differed from earlier follow-ups in obtaining information directly from the cohort member (instead of their parents, usually the mother). In 1985, responsibility for the cohort was transferred to the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) at City University, London, who undertook a survey of the cohort at age 33 (1991). The survey covered a wide range of substantive topics, and included a random one in three sample of children of the cohort. In 1998, the SSRU moved to the Institute of Education, London, and became the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). CLS houses the 1970 birth cohort study (BCS70), and in 1999/2000 an integrated contact of both cohorts was undertaken to facilitate comparisons between these generations. Such comparisons allow assessments, for example, of changes in equality of opportunity, which appear to have lessened between these generations. 5 A biomedical survey of the cohort (when they were aged 44–45 yr) has been conducted, with several collaborating partners, under the Medical Research Council’s ‘Health of the Public’initiative (Table 1). The primary objective was to examine how developmental, lifestyle, and environmental factors act throughout the lifespan to influence current ill health, and physiological and psychological function in early middle age.
Oxford University Press