BCS70 Age 51 Sweep

Year
Age
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1970
Birth
1975
5
1980
10
1986
16
1996
26
2000
30
2004
34
2008
38
2012
42
2016
46
2021
51
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Sweep details Special features at age 51 Documentation

Sweep details

Sweep status Completed
Dates Summer 2021 until January 2024
Age 51-53
Respondents Cohort members
Fieldwork agency NatCen and Kantar Public
Data access Data to be made available for research in March 2025
Survey mode Face to face (some interviews were carried out via video link or web rather than in person)
Description

The Age 51 Sweep collected a range of information from cohort members, offering new opportunities for the study of midlife including topics such as healthy ageing, pensions and financial wellbeing, and caring responsibilities.

This data collection built on the extensive data collected from birth and across the lifetime of cohort members.

It also facilitates comparisons with other generations, particularly the 1958 cohort at 50, and the 1946 cohort at 53, allowing for the study of social change.

The data will be of interest to researchers working in a wide range of disciplines, including population health and epidemiology, economics, sociology, demography, psychology and others. It has the potential to inform a wide range of policies, including those relating to ageing, physical and mental health, personal finances and relationships.

The sweep included:

  • 75 minute face-to-face interview with cognitive assessments (some interviews were carried out via video link rather than in person)
  • paper self-completion questionnaire
  • online diet questionnaire.

The interview and paper self-completion questionnaire covered the following three broad themes:

Family, relationships and identity: including topics such as social networks, relationships with partners, parents, children, friends, neighbourhood, social and cultural capital, social and political participation, attitudes and values, religion, and expectations.

Finances and employment: including topics such as work, income, wealth (savings and debts, pensions, and housing), inheritance (receiving and giving) and other transfers, and education.

Health, wellbeing and cognition: including topics such as physical health, mental health, medical care, medication, smoking, drinking, diet, exercise, and cognitive function.

The Age 51 Sweep was scheduled to begin in 2020 but had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Fieldwork was completed in January 2024.

The Age 51 Sweep is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.  

 

Special features at age 51

Video interviewing

For the first time, some of the cohort took part via video interview, using Microsoft Teams.

This approach was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic when in-person interviewing was not feasible but continued to be an option for cohort members who preferred to take part in this way, after in-person interviewing resumed.

Data linkage

Study members who had not previously consented (at Age 42) were asked for permission to link their survey data with health and economic records held by the NHS, the Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue & Customs.

Co-resident partners were also asked for consent to add their health and economic records to the data the study has collected.

Combining information from these records with the study data collected over the years will provide a much fuller picture of the health and economic circumstances of the cohort.

Intergenerational transfers

Study members were asked questions about intergenerational transfer of wealth including financial gifts, inheritances and trusts.

Imagining life at 60

On the final page of the paper self-completion questionnaire, respondents were asked to imagine the lives they would be living at 60.

They were asked to write a few lines describing their interests, home life, health, wellbeing and work at this time.

This same question was asked of participants in the National Child Development Study (NCDS) in the age 50 survey (administered between 2008 and 2009), so it will be fascinating to see how thoughts have changed.

Cognition: new addition, the National Adult Reading Test (NART)

This survey included a repeat of the cognitive assessments administered in the age 46 survey – immediate and delayed word-list recall, animal naming and the letter cancellation test.

These tests were also administered in the age 50 National Child Development Study (allowing direct comparison with this study).

In addition to these tests, a new cognitive test was administered for the first time – the National Adult Reading Test (NART). This test involves reading aloud 50 words which have irregular spellings, meaning that the correct pronunciation could not be deduced by applying grapheme-to-phoneme rules. Interviewers recorded whether the participant’s pronunciation was correct or not. This is a widely used test for estimating premorbid intelligence.

The rich information which has been collected over the lifetime of the study allows the determinants of cognitive ability at age 51 to be examined. For example, researchers are able to investigate the impact of a full range of life-time health behaviours such as exercise, diet, smoking and alcohol consumption, all of which are potentially modifiable at the individual level.

Understanding the impact of these behaviours on cognitive function is vital if levels of dementia in the general population are to be reduced in the future.

Intimate partner violence and other sensitive topic areas

The questionnaire includes a number of questions asking study members about their relationships with partners (including ex-partners) and experience of domestic violence.

These questions are asked in a module covering various other sensitive topics (including voting, mental health, childlessness, unsuccessful pregnancies, menopause and gynaecological problems).

Personality

The paper self-completion questionnaire included a shortened version of the 50 item IPIP representation of the Goldberg (1992) markers for the ‘Big-Five’ personality traits. These are: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.

These personality traits are generally considered to be relatively stable and reliable indicators of how individuals differ in response to particular situations.

A significant number of publications have already examined links between personality and other issues ranging from obesity to voter turn-out but many more questions can be researched using these measures.

Documentation

  • User guides
  • Questionnaires
  • Technical reports
  • Data notes
  • Additional
User guides

BCS70 Age 51 User Guide

The comprehensive guide to the data from the Age 51 Sweep (Sweep 11) of the 1970 British Cohort Study, carried out in 2021-24 when participants were aged 51-53 years.

Date published: 28/02/2025
PDF: 3,53 MB

Download

Handling missing data in the CLS cohort studies – User Guide

This user guide aims to describe and illustrate a straightforward approach to missing data handling, while detailing some more general considerations around missing data along the way.

Date published: 03/06/2024
PDF: 1000,62 KB

Download
Questionnaires

BCS70 Age 51 Main Stage Questionnaire

Complete questionnaire for the Age 51 Sweep (Sweep 11) of the 1970 British Cohort Study, including interviewer instructions and modifications by mode.

Date published: 28/02/2025
PDF: 3,26 MB

Download

BCS70 Age 51 Self-Completion Questionnaire

Paper questionnaire completed privately by participants for the Age 51 Sweep (Sweep 11) of the 1970 British Cohort Study.

Date published: 28/02/2025
PDF: 591,48 KB

Download

BCS70 Age 51 Sweep – Content Summary

BCS70 Age 51 Sweep – Content Summary

Date published: 03/08/2022
PDF: 139,86 KB

Download
Technical reports

BCS70 Video Call Pilot

Report on pilot to explore feasibility of using computer-assisted video interviewing with BCS70 cohort members

Date published: 03/08/2022
PDF: 787,08 KB

Download
Data notes

No material of this type is available.

Additional

No material of this type is available.

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