1970 British Cohort Study

The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) is a continuing, multi-disciplinary longitudinal survey monitoring the development of babies born in the UK in one particular week in April 1970.

History
Since the start of the BCS70, seven full sets of data have been collected in 1970, 1975, 1980, 1986, 1996, 1999/2000 and 2004/2005. An eighth survey is taking place in 2012, with the participants at age 42.

The first wave in 1970, called the British Births Survey, was conducted by the National Birthday Trust Fund together with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in order to collect information to compare with those of the National Child Development Study (NCDS). The following two sweeps in 1975 and 1980, when the study was known as the Child Health and Education Study (CHES), were carried out by the Department of Child Health at Bristol University. The 1986 survey was conducted by the International Centre for Child Studies and called Youthscan which was then taken over for the following surveys by the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU), now known as the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS).

The scope of the BCS70 has been broadened in the course of the different surveys. While the focus was on medical aspects at birth, factors such as physical, educational, social and economic development were subsequently taken into account.

Methodology and scope
The primary method of data collection cnsists of face-to-face interviews (with the parents), self-completion questionnaires and psychological and educational measurements. The sample size included about 17,000 babies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland born in 1970.

Survey results
The findings from the BCS70 have been included in numerous publications, a list of which can be found here. One key publication which also includes data of other British Cohort Studies is Elsa Ferri, John Bynner and Michael Wadsworth (eds.)(2003) Changing Britain, Changing Lives: three generations at the turn of the century

Re-using the data
The data and additional study information are available on the website of the Economic and Social Data Service (ESDS). Users will have to register in order to access the download section.