Professor Alissa Goodman was invited to the launch of Shaping Us, the new Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood campaign to raise awareness of how important the early years are for shaping the adults we become. In this blog, she shares her reflections on the event and highlights the importance of our birth cohorts in informing research on childhood development.
Up to one in five adults with a history of poor mental health reported they were ‘much worse off’ financially a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to one in ten of those who had never had psychological problems in adulthood.
The prevalence of serious mental health problems among 17-year-olds could drop by as much as 16.8% for girls and 8.4% for boys if they were not subjected to sexual violence, such as sexual assault and harassment, according to estimates from UCL researchers.
People with greater genetic risk of weight gain and those from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be overweight or obese across adulthood, with associations becoming larger from adolescence to midlife, finds a new study led by researchers from the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies.
Breastfeeding matters for children’s cognitive development, but disadvantaged mothers who give birth at the weekend are less likely to breastfeed, owing to poorer breastfeeding support in hospitals, finds a new UCL study.
Inequalities in the early cognitive, social and emotional development of children in the UK, which are so important in shaping later life outcomes, have changed little between those born in the early 2000s and those born in the early 2010s.
The Centre for Longitudinal Studies is home to four national longitudinal cohort studies, which follow the lives of tens of thousands of people.
For the past 60 years, findings from our studies have played a part in shaping the world we live in today, providing evidence for many of the choices we face as individuals, and as a society, and informing many areas of government policy. Today, our studies are casting light on some of the biggest challenges we face. Obesity, mental health, and poverty are just some of the issues our studies are helping to tackle.
We are part of the UCL Social Research Institute.
Following the lives of 17,000 people born in a single week in 1958 in Great Britain.
Following the lives of 17,000 people born in a single week in 1970 in Great Britain.
Following the lives of 16,000 people in England born in 1989-90.
The most recent of Britain's cohort studies, following 19,000 young people born in the UK at the start of the new century.
Take a look at our guide to using the rich longitudinal datasets. We’ve included tips on identifying the research you need, how you go about downloading the data and preparing the data for analysis.
The research we do at CLS covers issues that affect all our lives: education and learning, social mobility, health and wellbeing, families and family life, and ageing. We look for answers to questions and provide evidence to help tackle some of the key challenges we face in our society today.
Using longitudinal data collected from across more than seven decades, this project examines the relationship between people’s physical and mental health and their educational and occupational outcomes, both over the lifecourse and between generations.
This project examines ‘First in Family’ (FiF) students in higher education, whose parents did not attend university and obtain a degree. We compare their choices, their trajectories and their labour market outcomes.
This project aims to advance our understanding of whether Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) affects the wellbeing of families, and if so why.
"Protecting children from the devastating consequences of poverty and other distress at home is one of the most pre… https://t.co/XcCmzAo4gN
Follow us on Twitter
Our bibliography is a searchable database of published work based on our cohort studies. Search by keyword, author, date range and journal.
Data from our studies are mainly available through the UK Data Service. We run training to support researchers who are interested in using our studies in their work.
Centre for Longitudinal Studies
UCL Social Research Institute
20 Bedford Way
London WC1H 0AL
Email: clsfeedback@ucl.ac.uk
COVID-19
