Working papers

Social origins, elite education and elite destinations- CLS working paper 2016/5

Alice Sullivan, Sam Parsons, Francis Green and Dick Wiggins examine pathways to high socio-economic positions for men and women born in Britain in 1970.  Their analysis draws on the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70), exploiting data from birth to age 42.  The paper provides a comprehensive account of the way in which cognitive and educational attainment mediate the link between social origins and elite destinations in terms of social class and earnings in mid-life. The authors assess the roles of private and selective secondary schools, and of high-status universities and fields of study.  The finding is that, once a sufficiently detailed picture of educational attainment is taken into account, education fully explains the link between social origins and top social class destinations.

Keywords: British Cohort Study 1970, BCS70, social mobility, education, social class.

Early adiposity rebound, birthweight, and ethnicity – evidence from the millennium cohort study- CLS working paper 2016/4

Jessamy Lowe uses data from MCS Sweeps 1-4 to explore the early occurrence of the adiposity rebound (normal age 5-7 years), defined by the IOTF as a difference in z-scores between two ages ‘greater than 0.67’.

This additional weight represents an increase in fat mass as opposed to lean mass, with ‘early rebounders’ showing rates of gain in fat mass more than double those of ‘late rebounders’. This results in children who experience EAR developing different body compositions, with increased (predominantly central) adiposity.

Keywords: Millennium Cohort Study, adiposity, weight gain, fat mass, BMI.

Higher Education and Occupational Returns – do returns vary according to students’ social origins- CLS working paper 2016/3

This paper uses data from the BCS70 to learn more about the ‘social-levelling effect’ of having a degree: it’s known that graduates from different social backgrounds tend to do equally well in the first few years following graduation, but how does this picture evolve in the longer-term?

Keywords: BCS70, education, social class, social mobility, degree, graduate, gender equality.

Going online with the National Child Development Study: Design decisions during the development of the Age 55 web survey- CLS working paper 2016/2

The National Child Development Study (NCDS) Age 55 Survey adopted a sequential mixed-mode design whereby study members were first invited to participate online, with non-respondents being followed up by telephone.

This CLS working paper provides a summary of the design decisions taken to maximise the quality of the data collected via the web, and is intended to aid those considering administering a similar survey. The paper describes the design of the web survey (in the mixed mode context) and the contact strategy employed to encourage participation via the web.

Out of school activities during primary school and KS2 attainment- CLS working paper 2016/1

This CLS working paper aimed to investigate whether taking part in out of school activities during primary school is linked with end of primary school attainment and social, emotional and behavioural outcomes, for all children and specifically for children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Dreaming Big – Self-evaluations, aspirations, high-valued social networks and the private-school earnings premium- CLS working paper 2015/9

This CLS working paper uses data from the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) to investigate the effect of private schools on pupils’ self-esteem and locus of control at ages 10 and 16, and on aspirations and high-value network access at age 16. The paper also examines the effect of these factors on earnings in mid-career and their hypothesised significance for understanding the private-school earnings premium achieved in later life.

Key words: non-cognitive skills, wages, locus of control, self-esteem, pay, private school, aspiration, networks, social mobility.

Understanding bullying experiences among sexual minority youths in England- CLS working paper 2015/8

This CLS working paper aims to identify whether Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) youth are more at risk of bullying. It uses data from Next Steps (previously known as the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England).

Key words: Bully-victimisation, England, lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB), Next Steps, sexual minority.

What young English people do once they reach school-leaving age- CLS working paper 2015/7

This CLS working paper examines how young people’s early transitions into the labour market have changed between cohorts born in 1958, 1970, 1980, and 1990. It uses sequence analysis to characterise transition patterns and identify three distinct pathways in all cohorts.

Inequalities in students’ choice of STEM subjects – An exploration of intersectional relationships- CLS working paper 2015/6

This CLS working paper uses data from Next Steps (previously known as the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England) to examine inequalities in students choosing to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects. It looks at disparities in uptake by students’ family background, gender and ethnicity.

Key words: Subject choice, STEM, A-level, Degree, Ethnicity, Gender, Socio-economic background, Intersectional, Logistic Regression.

Measuring young people’s time-use in the UK Millennium Cohort Study – A mixed-mode time diary approach- CLS working paper 2015/5

The UK Millennium Cohort Study is the first large-scale social survey to use a highly innovative mixed-mode approach for the collection of pre-coded time diaries among adolescents.

This CLS working paper focuses on issues surrounding research design, instrument development, and implementation of the time diaries. It discusses the construction of an activity code scheme relevant for young people growing up in contemporary Britain, and present the three time diary instruments.

Key words: longitudinal; methodology; Millennium Cohort Study; mixed-mode; new technologies; time diary surveys; time-use record; time-use research

Does longitudinal change in adolescent educational expectations for university study vary by ethnic group?- CLS working paper 2015/4

This CLS working paper explores change in pupils’ educational expectations between ages 14-16 systematically across white, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black Caribbean adolescents under a psychometric framework using cohort panel data from Next Steps (formerly known as the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England).

Key words: adolescent educational expectations, ethnicity, longitudinal mediation modelling, latent variable structural equation modelling

Linkage to health administrative data- CLS working paper 2015/3

This CLS working paper documents the the first longitudinal exploration of consent to link survey and administrative data. It relies on a theoretical framework distinguishing between passive, active, consistent and inconsistent consent behaviour.

Key words: Consent; data linkage; Millennium Cohort Study; longitudinal data.