Research round-up – October to December 2020

What is the impact of greener neighbourhoods on children’s emotional development? How do first generation university graduates fare in the labour market?

How has the COVID-19 crisis affected alcohol consumption? And can children’s expectations about their future engagement in sport and exercise predict their physical activity in adulthood?

Researchers from around the world have been using CLS study data to tackle these and other key questions.

Below is a round-up of over 40 new pieces of research that we’ve added to the CLS bibliography between October and December 2020. The research addresses pertinent questions in the fields of child development, education, social mobility and health and wellbeing.

The CLS bibliography is a searchable database of research using the 1958, 1970, Next Steps and millennium cohort studies. If you have a paper to add to the bibliography, please contact us.

 

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Featured research

Childhood essays linked to physical activity in adulthood

In 1969, more than 10,000 11-year-olds taking part in the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) were asked to write an essay imagining what their lives would be like at age 25. Now, a new UCL-led study has found that children who predicted in their essays that they would be playing sports and engaging in exercise at age 25 were more likely to be physically active throughout adulthood.

Using machine learning techniques to analyse the content of the essays, the researchers discovered that boys who predicted they would be physically active tended to play sports and exercise more regularly as adults, at ages 23, 42 and 55. Girls who predicted taking part in sports and exercise were more likely to be physically active at age 33. Interestingly, children who wrote in their essays about watching sports didn’t tend to be more physically active in adulthood.

This is the first scientific study to analyse content from the NCDS age 11 essays, and is thought to be the first to use both qualitative and quantitative datasets to look at whether one’s perceptions of identity in adolescence go on to predict future behaviours during adulthood.

Do children’s expectations about future physical activity predict their physical activity in adulthood? by B. Pongiglione, M. L. Kern, J.D. Carpentieri, H.A. Schwartz, N. Gupta and A. Goodman (2020) was published in International Journal of Epidemiology (National Child Development Study)

 

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Ageing

Approaching Retirement After a Working Life in Poverty by Jon Swain, JD Carpentieri, Samantha Parsons and Alissa Goodman was published in Journal of Population Ageing (National Child Development Study)

 

Applied statistical methods

Longitudinal mediation analysis using natural effect models by Murthy Mittinty and Stijn Vansteelandt was published in American Journal of Epidemiology (Millennium Cohort Study – paywall)

 

Child development

Distinct developmental trajectories of internalising and externalising symptoms in childhood: links with mental health and risky behaviours in early adolescence by Efstathios Papachristou and Eirini Flouri was published in Journal of Affective Disorders (Millennium Cohort Study – paywall)

Longitudinal effects of breast feeding on parent-reported child behaviour by Lydia Gabriela Speyer, Hildigunnur Anna Hall, Anastasia Ushakova, Aja Louise Murray, Michelle Luciano and Bonnie Auyeung was published in Archives of Disease in Childhood (Millennium Cohort Study)

The effect of catch-up growth in the first year of life on later wheezing phenotypes by Sarah J Kotecha, John Lowe, Raquel Granell, John W Watkins, A John Henderson and Sailesh Kotecha was published in European Respiratory Journal (Millennium Cohort Study)

Association of public care in childhood with social, criminal, cognitive, and health outcomes in middle-age: six decades of follow-up of members of the 1958 Birth Cohort Study by Tiffany H Xie, Carlos de Mestral and G David Batty was published in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (National Child Development Study)

 

COVID-19

Poor inhibitory control and stress as risk-factors for alcohol (mis) use during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: a national cross-sectional study utilising data from four birth cohorts by James M Clay, Lorenzo D Stafford and Matthew O Parker was published in medRxiv (Millennium Cohort Study, Next Steps, 1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study – pre-print)

 

Education

Pathways from origins to destinations: Stability and change in the roles of cognition, private schools and educational attainment by Alice Sullivan, Samantha Parsons, George Ploubidis,  Francis Green and Richard D. Wiggins was published in The British Journal of Sociology (1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study)

Childhood Maternal School Leaving Age (Level of Education) and Risk Markers of Metabolic Syndrome in Mid-Adulthood: Results from the 1958 British Birth Cohort by Chukwuma Iwundu, Dong Pang and Yannis Pappas was published in Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity: Targets and Therapy (National Child Development Study)

Examining the London advantage in attainment: evidence from LSYPE by Andy Ross, Carli Lessof, Richard Brind, Rushda Khandker was Daisy Aitken was published as a Department for Education Research Report (Next Steps – report)

The Labor Market Returns to ‘First in Family’ University Graduates by Anna Adamecz-Völgyi, Morag Henderson and Nikki Shure was published in IZA Discussion Paper Series (Next Steps – working paper)

Does private schooling make you right-wing? by Richard D Wiggins, Samantha Parsons, Francis Green, George Ploubidis and Alice Sullivan was published as a CLS working paper (1970 British Cohort Study – working paper)

 

Employment, income and wealth

Moving along the STEM pipeline? The long-term employment patterns of science, technology, engineering and maths graduates in the United Kingdom by Emma Smith and Patrick White was published in Research Papers in Education (1970 British Cohort Study)

“The long arm of the household”: Gendered struggles in combining paid work with social and civil participation over the lifecourse by Jane Parry, Katherine Brookfield and Vicki Bolton was published in Gender, Work & Organization (National Child Development Study)

Job satisfaction over the life course by David G. Blanchflower and Alex Bryson was published in NBER Working Paper 28206 (National Child Development Study – working paper)

 

Expectations, attitudes and beliefs

‘I’d Keep Them Tidy’: Domesticity, Work and Nostalgia in Girls’ Imagined Futures Described in Essays Written by 11 Year Olds in 1969 by Virginia Morrow and Jane Elliott, was published in In: Moran L., Reilly K., Brady B. (eds) Narrating Childhood with Children and Young People. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. (National Child Development Study – paywall)

 

Family and social networks

Family Social Capital and Delinquent Behavior in the United Kingdom by John P. Hoffmann, Jared D. Thorpe and Mikaela J. Dufur was published in Social Sciences (Millennium Cohort Study)

Undesirable social relations as risk factors for loneliness among 14-year-olds in the UK: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study by Keming Yang, Kimberly J Petersen and Pamela Qualter was published in International Journal of Behavioral Development (Millennium Cohort Study)

Change and stability in the influence of parents’ education on children’s intelligence by Sophie Nicole Cave, Megan Wright and Sophie von Stumm was published in PsyArXiv Preprints (Millennium Cohort Study, 1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study – pre-print)

 

Health behaviour

The potential health impact of restricting less-healthy food and beverage advertising on UK television between 05.30 and 21.00 hours: a modelling study by Oliver T. Mytton, Emma Boyland, Jean Adams, Brendan Collins, Martin O’Connell, Simon J. Russell, Kate Smith, Rebekah Stroud, Russell M. Viner and Linda J. Cobiac was published in PLoS Medicine (Millennium Cohort Study)

Emotional and behavioural pathways to adolescent substance use and antisocial behaviour: results from the UK Millennium Cohort Study by João Picoito, Constança Santos & Carla Nunes was published in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (Millennium Cohort Study)

Changes in the prevalence and correlates of weight-control behaviors and weight perception in adolescents in the UK, 1986-2015 by Francesca Solmi, Helen Sharpe, Suzanne H Gage, Jane Maddock, Glyn Lewis and Praveetha Patalay was published in JAMA pediatrics (Millennium Cohort Study and 1970 British Cohort Study)

Comparison of smoking reduction with improvement of social conditions in early life: simulation in a British cohort by Benoit Lepage, Hélène Colineaux, Michelle Kelly-Irving, Paolo Vineis, Cyrille Delpierre and Thierry Lang was published in International Journal of Epidemiology (National Child Development Study – paywall)

Physical activity across age and study: a guide to data in six CLOSER studies by Meg Fluharty, Aase Villadsen, Aaron Kandola, Lucy Griffiths, Dara O’Neill, Sneha Pinto Pereira, Nicholas Timpson, Rachel Cooper, David Bann was published as a CLOSER Resource Report (Millennium Cohort Study, 1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study – report)

A guide to the dietary data in eight CLOSER studies by Jane Maddock, Dara O’Neill, Sian Robinson, Sarah Crozier, Karen Jameson, Brian Dodgeon, Matthew Suderman, Pauline Emmett, Karen Gush and Jonathon Burton was published as a CLOSER Resource Report (Millennium Cohort Study, 1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study – report)

 

Housing and local environment

Neighbourhood greenspace and children’s trajectories of self-regulation: Findings from the UK Millennium Cohort Study by Marie A.E. Mueller and Eirini Flouri was published in Journal of Environmental Psychology (Millennium Cohort Study – paywall)

 

Mental health and wellbeing

Correlates of maternal Emotional Stability: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study by Helen Cheng and Adrian Furnham was published in Personality and Individual Differences (Millennium Cohort Study – paywall)

Enduring Mental Health in Childhood and Adolescence: Learning From the Millennium Cohort Study by Jessica Deighton, Suzet Tanya Lereya and Miranda Wolpert was published in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (Millennium Cohort Study – paywall)

The Role of Decision-Making in Psychological Wellbeing and Risky Behaviours in Autistic Adolescents Without ADHD: Longitudinal Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study by Mariko Hosozawa, William Mandy, Noriko Cable and Eirini Flouri was published in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (Millennium Cohort Study)

Childhood correlates of adult positive mental well-being in three British longitudinal studies by Natasha Wood, Rebecca Hardy, David Bann, Catharine Gale and Mai Stafford was published in Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health (1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study – paywall)

State of the nation 2020: children and young people’s wellbeing by Department for Education was published as a Department for Education Research Report (Millennium Cohort Study – report)

Mental ill health in the UK at age 17 – Prevalence of and inequalities in psychological distress, self-harm and attempted suicide by Praveetha Patalay and Emla Fitzsimons was published as a CLS briefing paper (Millennium Cohort Study – briefing paper).

 

Physical health

The association between family structure and children’s BMI over time: The mediating role of income by Sarah Burkill, Philippa Waterhouse and Laura Pazzagli was published in Annals of Epidemiology (Millennium Cohort Study – paywall)

Duration of obesity exposure between ages 10 and 40 years and its relationship with cardiometabolic disease risk factors: A cohort study by Tom Norris, Tim J Cole, David Bann, Mark Hamer, Rebecca Hardy, Leah Li, Ken K Ong, George B Ploubidis, Russell Viner and William Johnson was published in PLoS medicine (1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study)

Going beyond the mean in examining relationships of adolescent non-cognitive skills with health-related quality of life and biomarkers in later-life by Rose Atkins, Alex James Turner, Tarani Chandola and Matt Sutton was published in Economics & Human Biology  (National Child Development Study)

Patterning of educational attainment across inflammatory markers: findings from a multi-cohort study by Marine Maurel, Raphaële Castagné, Eloïse Berger, Murielle Bochud, Marc Chadeau-Hyam, Silvia Fraga, Martina Gandini, Nina Hutri-Kähönen, Sirpa Jalkanen, Mika Kivimäki, Michael Marmot, Cathal McCrory, Martin Preisig, Olli Raitakari, Fulvio Ricceri and Marko S was published in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity (National Child Development Study)

Theory driven analysis of social class and health outcomes using UK nationally representative longitudinal data by Wami, Welcome; McCartney, Gerry; Bartley, Mel; Buchanan, Duncan; Dundas, Ruth; Katikireddi, Srinivasa Vittal; Mitchell, Rich; Walsh, David; was published in International Journal for Equity in Health (National Child Development Study)

Hereditary Alpha-Tryptasemia: UK Prevalence and variability in disease expression by Rebecca C Robey, Amy Wilcock, Hope Bonin, Glenda Beaman, Bethan Myers, Clive Grattan, Tracy A Briggs and Peter D Arkwright was published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice (National Child Development Study – paywall)

Psychosocial predictors of asthma onset during mid-adulthood: evidence from the National Child Development Study by Cathie Hammond was published in Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (National Child Development Study – paywall)

Obesity prevalence and its inequality from childhood to adolescence – Initial findings from the Millennium Cohort Study Age 17 Survey by Emla Fitzsimons and David Bann was published as a CLS briefing paper (Millennium Cohort Study – briefing paper)

 

Poverty

Does household income affect children’s outcomes? A systematic review of the evidence by Kerris Cooper and Kitty Stewart was published in Child Indicators Research (Millennium Cohort Study)

The politics of the excluded: abjection and reconciliation amongst the British precariat by Mike Savage and Cynthia Meersohn Schmidt was published in The Journal of Chinese Sociology (National Child Development Study)

Socioeconomic inequalities in co-morbidity of overweight, obesity and mental ill-health from adolescence to mid-adulthood in two national birth cohort studies by Amal Khanolkar and Praveetha Patalay was published in medRxiv (1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study – pre-print)

 

Social mobility

Changing gears: understanding downward social mobility by Social Mobility Commission was published as a Social Mobility Commission Report (1970 British Cohort Study and National Child Development Study – report)

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