News and opinion

Welcome to our news and blogs section. Here you’ll find the latest developments and insights from across our longitudinal studies.

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News

Men’s overconfidence helps them reach top jobs

24 April 2023

Men are 34% more likely than women to be employed in top jobs at age 42 with overconfidence explaining up to 11% of the gender gap, on average, for full-time workers.

News

Inequalities in early child development remained stubbornly high through the 2010s

23 June 2022

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. Researchers from the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) and the Institute for Fiscal Studies […]

News

Children with behavioural problems at age five may need extra literacy support at school

21 July 2021

Children with severe conduct and hyperactivity problems at school entrance tend to gain lower scores in vocabulary tests during adolescence, according to a new study.

Reading for pleasure and children’s cognitive development

6 November 2020

Research using data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) has revealed how reading for pleasure can help children excel in English and maths. It has also shown that good reading habits in childhood have a significant longer term impact on people’s vocabulary, with the benefits being evident even 30 years later.

50 stories

The 1970s – an animated tour

18 June 2020

Celebrating 50 years of the 1970 British Cohort Study – So, that was the 1970s. And what a decade it was for Britain’s birth cohort studies. Here’s a whistle stop animated tour of the first 10 years of BCS70.

50 stories

Important discoveries from the 1970 British Cohort Study – Age 5 Sweep

11 June 2020

Celebrating 50 years of the 1970 British Cohort Study – Thanks to findings from the Age 5 Sweep we have increased our understanding of the benefits of breastfeeding, the links between TV viewing and adult obesity, and the influence of parenting practices on children’s later attitudes.

50 stories

1970 British Cohort Study Age 5 Survey – Understanding mothers

4 June 2020

Celebrating 50 years of the 1970 British Cohort Study – During the Age 5 Sweep, mothers were asked a series of questions about their opinions, maternal depression and their child’s behaviour.

50 stories

Important discoveries from the 1970 British Cohort Study – Childhood educational inequalities

21 May 2020

Celebrating 50 years of the 1970 British Cohort Study – Few pieces of longitudinal research have had such an impact on government policy as Leon Feinstein’s analysis of BCS70, which examined the links between family background and children’s cognitive development.

News

Growing gap in children’s socio-emotional skills

30 March 2020

The gap between children with the highest and lowest socio-emotional skills has increased over the past three decades, and the socio-economic status of mothers is a significant contributing factor, according to a new UCL study.

News

Older fathers now tend to be healthiest in middle age, research finds

2 October 2019

Over the years, men who waited until their mid-20s to have their first child tended to report the best health in middle age, compared to those who started a family earlier. But, more recently, those who delayed fatherhood until their mid-30s appeared to be the healthiest in midlife.

News

Smoking in pregnancy not directly linked to children’s later smoking habits, researchers find

25 September 2019

Children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are not born predisposed to smoking through absorbing nicotine in the womb, a study has found.

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