Working papers

Collecting saliva samples for DNA extraction from children and parents- CLS working paper 2013/3

This CLS working paper provides an account of a pilot study investigating the feasibility of collecting saliva samples for DNA extraction from mothers, fathers and children aged around 11 years old using field interviewers on the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

Key words: Saliva samples; bio-measures; DNA; interviewer training; Millennium Cohort Study; longitudinal.

Prevalence and correlates of sleep problems at age 50- CLS working paper 2013/2

This CLS working paper uses data from the Age 50 sweep of the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) to provide a preliminary cross-sectional analysis of the correlates of sleep problems among cohort members. The results demonstrate associations of poor sleep with gender, socio-economic circumstances, health status, health-related behaviour, and depression.

In-school ability grouping and the month of birth effect- CLS working paper 2013/1

This CLS working paper uses data from MCS to explore the hypothesis that ability grouping in early primary school may help create the ‘month of birth effect’.

Imagine you are 60 – A view of the next decade for 50-year-olds in the 1958 British birth cohort study as they enter the ‘third age’- CLS working paper 2012/6

Jane Elliott provides a preliminary descriptive analysis of a sub-sample of responses to an open-ended question which asked members of the 1958 birth cohort to imagine they were 60, and describe what their life would be like.

Keywords: 1958 birth cohort, NCDS, National Child Development Study, ageing, imagination, expectations

Do primary school children’s career aspirations matter?- CLS working paper 2012/5

This CLS working paper uses data from MCS to examine the role of young children’s career aspirations in the association between family poverty and children’s emotional (internalising) and behavioural (externalising) problems.

Key words: family socio-economic disadvantage, career aspirations, emotional and behavioural problems

Do primary school children’s career aspirations matter? – Appendix- CLS working paper 2012/5a

This appendix accompanies the CLS working paper, Do primary school children’s career aspirations matter? The paper uses data from MCS to examine the role of young children’s career aspirations in the association between family poverty and children’s emotional (internalising) and behavioural (externalising) problems.

Key words: family socio-economic disadvantage, career aspirations, emotional and behavioural problems

Improving mailings to study members in longitudinal surveys- CLS working paper 2012/4

This CLS working paper reports the results from a randomised experiment to improve the effectiveness of the between-wave mailing on the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

Longitudinal survey managers send ‘keep in touch’ mailings to sample members between waves to help minimise non-response through failure to locate individuals at future waves.

Key words: longitudinal; tracking; non-response; attrition; survey methods; between-wave mailing; covering letters; advance letters

Assessing recall of early life cicumstances- CLS working paper 2012/3

This CLS working paper uses data from the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) to assess recall of early life circumstances. The report examines responses to questions about childhood experiences that were answered when cohort members were aged 50.

These questions re-collected information that was first collected contemporaneously. The paper will assess the accuracy with which individuals can recall these details some 40 years later by comparing the information reported at age 50 with the data captured at age 11.

Persistent poverty and children’s cognitive development- CLS working paper 2012/2

This CLS working paper uses data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to document the impact of poverty, and in particular persistent poverty, has on children’s cognitive development in their early years.

Key words: child poverty, cognitive development

Multiple risk factors in young children’s development- CLS working paper 2012/1

This CLS working paper quantifies the prevalence of multiple risks for families with very young children in the UK, and their prevalence by ethnic groups. It also examines the associations of multiple risks to deficits in developmental outcomes at three and five years of age using data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

Key words: Multiple risks, child development, Millennium Cohort Study, UK

The design and content of the HALCyon qualitative study- CLS working paper 2011/5

This paper provides an overview of the design of a qualitative sub-study of members of the 1946 MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), and members of the Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS). Interviews were carried out in 2010 as part of the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) collaborative research programme.

This descriptive methodological paper focuses on the content of the interview topic guide, the sampling strategy and on the characteristics of the sample that was achieved in comparison with the overall survey population.

An ethical review of the use of functional MRI and DNA analysis in birth cohort studies- CLS working paper 2011/4

This CLS working paper provides a detailed ethical review of the use of functional MRI and DNA analysis in birth cohort studies with reference to the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) Age 45 biomedical sweep, conducted in 2002.