Working papers

The design and content of the ‘Social participation’ study: A qualitative sub-study conducted as part of the age 50 (2008) sweep of the National Child Development Study- CLS working paper 2010/3

Jane Elliott, Sam Parsons, Andrew Miles and Mike Savage provide an overview of the design of a qualitative sub-study of 170 members of the 1958 British Birth Cohort Study (NCDS), carried out in 2008-9. The sub-study investigated the association between individuals’ social mobility experiences and the patterns of social participation, providing a resource for other researchers wishing to use this data set. The authors reflect on the methodological advantages and disadvantages posed by conducting qualitative biographical interviews with a sub-sample of members of an existing longitudinal quantitative study. Transcribed interviews from this project have been archived at the UK Data Service, so that they are available for analysis by other researchers.

Keywords: NCDS8, 58 cohort, qualitative, social mobility, social capital.

Attitudes Towards Pensions and Retirement at Age 50: Initial results from the National Child Development Study- CLS working paper 2010/2

Matt Brown uses data collected from members of the National Child Development Study at age 50 to examine the attitudes that British 50 year olds have towards retirement, and in particular the concerns they might have about their future financial situation and whether they might be considering working beyond retirement age.  By the age of 50 only a small minority (around 1 per cent) of study members had retired, but over the next 10 to 15 years a great many of them will be making the transition from work to retirement.  The survey did not question study members about when they expected to retire, but the 2006 DWP ‘Attitudes to Pensions’ survey found that amongst those aged 45-55, 40% expected to be retired by the age of 60 and the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing found that in 2006 55% of those aged 60-64 were no longer working.  In the UK at the turn of the century the average age retirement was 63 for men and 61 for women.

Keywords: NCDS8, 58 cohort, gender, retirement, pensions, savings, expectations.

NCDS Cognitive Assessments at Age 50: Initial Results- CLS working paper 2010/1

Matt Brown and Brian Dodgeon analyse the results of four sets of cognitive assessments undertaken at age 50  by NCDS members (1958 birth cohort): word recall, delayed word recall, animal naming and letter cancellation.   These are regressed onto the same cohort members’ cognitive test results at age 11 in the presence of other covariates to test the effect of health behaviours on age 50 cognitive ability by gender.

Keywords: NCDS8, 58 cohort, gender, health behaviours, smoking, drinking, memory, social class.

Education, First Occupation and Later Occupational Attainment: Cross-Cohort Changes among Men and Women in Britain- CLS working paper 2009/4

Erzsebet Bukodi analyses cohort and gender differences in occupational attainment up to age 34 in the 1946, 1958 and 1970 British birth cohort studies, concluding that while the most important predictor of mobility chances is educational qualifications, the importance of education does not increase across the three cohorts, though there is a significant cohort effect, with the 1958 cohort having significantly different experiences from the other tow cohorts.

Keywords: NSHD, NCDS, BCCS70, 58 cohort, 70 cohort, gender, employment, social mobility, occupational mobility, social class.

Class Origins, Education and Occupational Attainment: Cross-cohort Changes among Men in Britain- CLS working paper 2009/3

Erzsebet Bukodi and John Goldthorpe analyse the occupational mobility of men in the 1946, 1958 and 1970 British birth cohort studies, concluding that while the most important predictor of mobility chances is educational qualifications, the importance of education does not increase across the three cohorts: class origins also have a significant effect on occupational mobility.

Keywords:  NSHD, 1946 birth cohort, NCDS, BCS70, 58 cohort, 70 cohort, education, employment, social mobility, occupational mobility, social class.

Trends in the relative wage opportunities of women and men across three British generations- CLS working paper 2009/2

Jenny Neuberger, Diana Kuh and Heather Joshi use data from the 1946, 1958 and 1970 British birth cohort studies to examine cross-cohort trends in employment and earnings, using multivariate analyses of selection into employment, and producing estimates of women’s and men’s wage opportunities.

Keywords:  NSHD, 1946 birth cohort, NCDS, BCS70, 58 cohort, 70 cohort, education, employment, unemployment.

Combining Childrearing with Work: Do Maternal Employment Experiences Compromise Child Development- CLS working paper 2009/1

This CLS working paper examines whether various indicators of child cognition and behavioural development in later childhood and early adolescence, might be associated with: (1) hours of paid maternal work, and (indirectly) mother’s access to maternity leave; (2) the kinds of working conditions that mothers are likely to experience in the jobs they hold when they have small children; and (3) a broad indicator of the types of non-maternal care the children encounter during their early years.

It uses data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) and the American 1979 National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY79).

Cross-national research using contemporary birth cohort studies – a look at early maternal employment in the United Kingdom and the United States- CLS working paper 2008/13

Danielle Crosby and Denise Hawkes look at factors associated with the timing of mothers’ post-birth employment in the UK and US, using models conditioned on prior employment and partner status.

The UK Millennium Cohort Study and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Birth are the two datasets used.

Keywords:  Millennium Cohort Study, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, education, employment, unemployment, fertility.

Educational attainment, labour market conditions and unobserved heterogeneity – the timing of first and higher-order births in Britain- CLS working paper 2008/12

Andrew Jenkins, Heather Joshi and Mark Killingsworth analyse the effects of women’s education and aggregate unemployment rates on fertility in Britain, using two cohorts who had different experiences of education: the 1958 and 1970 British birth cohorts (NCDS & BCS70).

Keywords:  British Cohort Study 1970, NCDS, education, employment, unemployment, fertility.

Ethnic minorities and non-response in the Millennium Cohort Study- CLS working paper 2008/11

Shirley Dex and Rachel Rosenberg look at predictors of mother’s responses and male partners’ responses in the first two sweeps of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), using logistic regression models and a multinomial combined response model.

Keywords:  Millennium Cohort Study, missingness, non-response, ethnicity.

Missing Income data in the Millennium Cohort Study – evidence from the first two sweeps- CLS working paper 2008/10

Denise Hawkes & Ian Plewis look at income non-response in the first two sweeps of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), modelling attrition at MCS2 with household income and income response at MCS1 as predictors.

Key words:  Millennium Cohort Study, missingness, non-response, income.

Economic Deprivation, Maternal Depression, Parenting and Children’s Cognitive and Emotional Development in Early Childhood- CLS working paper 2008/9

This CLS working paper uses data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to examine the extent to which economic circumstances in infancy and mother’s mental well-being are associated with children’s cognitive development and behaviour problems at age 3 years, and what part parenting behaviours and attitudes play in mediating these factors.

Key words: Poverty; maternal depression; parenting; cognitive development; behaviour problems; Structural Equation Modelling