DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-3723-8
title: 1970 British Cohort Study: Age 10, Sweep 3, 1980
title: 1970 British Cohort Study – Survey and Biomeasures Data
title: BCS70

description: &lt;p&gt;The &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;1970 British Cohort Study&lt;/span&gt; (BCS70) is a longitudinal birth cohort study, following a nationally representative sample of over 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week of 1970. Cohort members have been surveyed throughout their childhood and adult lives, mapping their individual trajectories and creating a unique resource for researchers. It is one of very few longitudinal studies following people of this generation anywhere in the world.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Since 1970, cohort members have been surveyed at ages 5, 10, 16, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, and 51. Featuring a range of objective measures and rich self-reported data, BCS70 covers an incredible amount of ground and can be used in research on many topics. Evidence from BCS70 has illuminated important issues for our society across five decades. Key findings include how reading for pleasure matters for children's cognitive development, why grammar schools have not reduced social inequalities, and how childhood experiences can impact on mental health in mid-life. Every day researchers from across the scientific community are using this important study to make new connections and discoveries.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;BCS70 is run by the &lt;a href="https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/cls-studies/1970-british-cohort-study/" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;Centre for Longitudinal Studies&lt;/a&gt; (CLS), a research centre in the UCL Institute of Education, which is part of University College London. The content of BCS70 studies, including questions, topics and variables can be explored via the &lt;a href="https://discovery.closer.ac.uk/item/uk.cls.bcs70/75fe4705-0c94-4f75-b1e6-ad9c61ffde26" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;CLOSER Discovery&lt;/a&gt; website.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;em&gt;How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from a range of longitudinal surveys:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;For information on how to access biomedical data from BCS70 that are not held at the UKDS, see the &lt;a href="https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/data-access-training/genetic-data-and-biological-samples/" target="_blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;CLS Genetic data and biological samples&lt;/a&gt; webpage.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Polygenic Indices&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br&gt;Polygenic indices are available under Special Licence SN 9439. Derived summary scores have been created that combine the estimated effects of many different genes on a specific trait or characteristic, such as a person's risk of Alzheimer's disease, asthma, substance abuse, or mental health disorders, for example. These polygenic scores can be combined with existing survey data to offer a more nuanced understanding of how cohort members' outcomes may be shaped.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Secure Access datasets&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Secure Access versions of BCS70 have more restrictive access conditions than versions available under the standard Safeguarded Licence.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;1970 British Cohort Study: Age 10, Sweep 3, 1980&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The 10-year follow-up was the second full national follow-up of the BCS70 cohort. It was designed to review and evaluate mid-childhood health, care, education, social and family environment throughout Britain. A number of considerations influenced the development of the survey instrumentation used. A major factor was the desire to examine 10-year-old children's educational achievement and the ways in which it is influenced by other events, and a wide range of earlier developmental, educational, social and health factors recorded previously on the same cohort and in particular the effects of: pre-school education and daycare; and learning difficulties. Health itself was another major focus of the follow-up, to provide a comparison with information gathered during the 5-year follow-up. The comprehensive nature of the data gathered in this longitudinal BCS study from birth onwards enables examination of the effects on the 10-year child's education, health and general progress, of perinatal problems, serious childhood illnesses and critical episodes in the family or social environment. A separate subset study conducted at the same time, covering 10-year follow-up respondents with special educational needs- see SN 7064.&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Latest edition information:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br&gt;For the seventh edition (October 2023), a small number of primary identifiers (BCSID) have been changed in the bcs3derived data file to realign them to other BCS70 data. Additionally, a correction to the units was made to the variable label for meb19.1 in the sn3723 data file.&lt;br&gt;
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