DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-6943-3
title: 1970 British Cohort Study: Activity Histories, 1986-2013
title: 1970 British Cohort Study
title: BCS70

description: &lt;i&gt;1970 British Cohort Study: Activity Histories, 1986-2013:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
Data on work and non-work activities lasting one month or more have been collected in all BCS70 sweeps from sweep 5 (age 26) onwards. The purpose of the study is to merge all data on work and non-work activities in  successive BCS sweeps into one longitudinal dataset.&lt;br /&gt;
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The focus of the questions asked at each sweep vary from: current work activity (sweep 5, aged 26); work and non-work activities engaged in since the age of 16 (sweep 6, aged 30); work and non-work activities engaged in since the last sweep or aged 16 (sweep 7, aged 34); work and non-work activities engaged in since 2000, or 2004 if included in sweep 7 (sweep 8, aged 38), work and non-work activities engaged in since 2000, 2004, or 2008 if included in sweeps 6,7 or 8 respectively (sweep 9, aged 42). Therefore the activity histories will start from the age of 16 and continue until the interview date of the latest data sweep that each cohort member participated in. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;                                                                                                          The length of the activity histories vary depending on the latest sweep that a cohort member was present at. The minimum activity history length recorded is 1 month and the maximum is 326 months (27 years). Gaps in the activity histories occur where a cohort member has not been present at all sweeps and/or where full activity data were not reported.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; 

For the third edition (April 2017) data for Sweep 9, conducted in 2012/13, were added to the study. In addition, modifications have been made to the pre-2013 BCS70 activity data due to some enhancements to the BCS70 activity histories program. Further details are included in the documentation, which has also been updated.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt; 


 &lt;i&gt;Background&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;
The &lt;i&gt;1970 British Cohort Study&lt;/i&gt; (BCS70) began in 1970 when data were collected about the births and families of babies born in the United Kingdom in one particular week in 1970. The first wave, called the &lt;i&gt;British Births Survey&lt;/i&gt;, was carried out by the National Birthday Trust Fund in association with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Its aims were to examine the social and biological characteristics of the mother in relation to neonatal morbidity, and to compare the results with those of the &lt;i&gt;National Child Development Study&lt;/i&gt; (NCDS), which commenced in 1958 (held separately at the UK Data Archive under GN 33004). Participants from Northern Ireland, who had been included in the birth survey, were dropped from the study in all subsequent sweeps, which only included respondents from Great Britain.&lt;br&gt;
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Since BCS70 began, there have been eight further full data collection exercises in order to monitor the cohort members' health, education, social and economic circumstances. These took place when respondents were aged 5, in 1975 (held under SN 2699), aged 10, in 1980 (SN 3723), aged 16, in 1986 (SN 3535), aged 26, in 1996 (SN 3833), aged 30, 1999-2000 (SN 5558), aged 34, in 2004-2005 (SN 5585) and aged 42 in 2012 (SN 7473). The first two sweeps (at 5 and 10 years) were carried out by the Department of Child Health at Bristol University. During these times, the survey was known as the &lt;i&gt;Child Health and Education Study&lt;/i&gt; (CHES). The 16-year survey was carried out by the International Centre for Child Studies and named &lt;i&gt;Youthscan&lt;/i&gt;. The Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) became involved with the BCS70 study at this time, and eventually changed its name to the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), based at the Institute of Education, University of London. With each successive attempt, the scope of BCS70 has broadened from a strictly medical focus at birth, to encompass physical and educational development at the age of 5, physical, educational and social development at the ages of 10 and 16, and physical, educational, social and economic development at 26 years and beyond. Further information about the BCS70 and may be found on the &lt;a href="http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/" title="Centre for Longitudinal Studies"&gt;Centre for Longitudinal Studies&lt;/a&gt; website. As well as BCS70, the CLS now also conducts the NCDS series. &lt;br&gt;
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&lt;i&gt;Response dataset:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;
A separate dataset covering response to BCS70 over all nine waves is available under SN 5641, &lt;i&gt;1970 British Cohort Study Response Dataset, 1970-2012&lt;/i&gt;. Users are advised to order this study alongside the other waves of BCS70.&lt;br&gt;
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&lt;i&gt;Subsample, supplementary and related studies&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;
A range of sub-sample and supplementary surveys have also been conducted, such as the Ten-year Follow-up Special Needs Survey (held under SN 7064) and a supplementary survey of head teachers (held under SN 5225) at the time of the 16-year follow-up in 1986. A related study, &lt;i&gt;Coding of Text Data from BCS70 at 10 and 16 Years: Health Care Utilisation of School Aged Children, 1970-1986&lt;/i&gt;, is also held under SN 4126. The aim of this project was to code text variables from BCS70 files, selected from the ten- and 16-year follow-ups to provide information about health care utilisation by the target age group.&lt;br&gt;
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&lt;i&gt;How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from a range of longitudinal surveys:&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;
A useful overview of the governance routes for applying for genetic and bio-medical sample data, which are not available through the UK Data Service, can be found at &lt;a href="http://www.metadac.ac.uk/data-access-through-metadac/" title="Governance of data and sample access"&gt;Governance of data and sample access&lt;/a&gt; on the METADAC (Managing Ethico-social, Technical and Administrative issues in Data Access) website.&lt;br&gt;
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