Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (E-Journal)
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Family structure and socio-emotional wellbeing in the early years: a life course approach
Get PDFChildren living in reconstituted and lone parent families are at greater risk of poorer socio-emotional wellbeing than those in couple families. A life course approach can help us to understand the dynamics of family structure and how they influence child wellbeing, through consideration of sensitive and critical periods, accumulation, and trajectories of stability or change. We do this using data on 10,357 children from the UK Millennium Cohort Study from infancy to middle childhood. Family structure (natural couple, lone parent, reconstituted family) was measured at 9 months, 3, 5 and 7 years. We used a structured life course approach to examine how family structure might influence socio-emotional wellbeing throughout childhood. We also considered the role of early-life selection, and cumulative poverty (number of sweeps spent in income poverty). We found no evidence of sensitive or critical periods for exposure to certain family types. A measure capturing trajectories of family structure stability or change was as predictive of socio-emotional wellbeing at age 7 as a saturated measure representing all permutations of family structure over time. Compared to children living in a natural couple family throughout, all other groups were more likely to experience poor socio-emotional wellbeing, although children who were living in a natural couple family which transitioned to a lone parent family had a lower prevalence ratio (PR 1.80 [95% confidence interval: 1.54, 2.10]) than the other trajectory types, such as lone parent family throughout (PR=2.77 [2.34, 3.29]), or a lone parent family which transitioned to a reconstituted family (2.66 [1.99, 3.56]). Number of sweeps spent in a lone parent or reconstituted family was also as predictive of poor socio-emotional wellbeing as the saturated model, with the elevated risk increasing incrementally with every sweep spent in either of these family types (PR=1.86 [1.52, 2.26]) for 1 sweep, rising to 2.87 [2.46, 3.56] for 4). The association between both family structure measures and socio-emotional wellbeing were, in most cases, substantially attenuated after adjustment for early-life selection factors (such as maternal social class and separation of the mother’s parents in childhood) and cumulative poverty throughout childhood. This analysis confirms that policies to provide support to vulnerable families in the early years and to reduce poverty are likely to benefit child wellbeing.
Fantasy, unrealistic and uncertain aspirations and children’s emotional and behavioural adjustment in primary school
Get PDF We examined the aspirations expressed by 7-year-olds in association with their emotional and behavioural problems, based on data from 12,014 children in the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study (MCS). We classified their written responses to the question ‘when you grow up, what would you like to be’ as aspirations for rare (34.7%) or non-rare (56.8%) occupations, fantasy aspirations (1.1%), aspirations for non-work related future states (2.3%), and uncertain aspirations (5.1%). Most children had occupational aspirations, suggesting that at age 7, children already envisage future careers. Though few had fantasy occupations, which are more common in younger children, many gave unrealistic answers which are more developmentally typical for 7-year-olds. Children with fantasy aspirations at age 7 were more hyperactive, and had more conduct and peer problems. Having non-work-related and uncertain aspirations at this age was not associated with adverse outcomes. Compared to children who aspired to rare occupations, those who aspired to non-rare occupations had more emotional and peer problems. Children with ambitions for rare occupations may have higher self-efficacy and believe they can influence their choices. These findings were robust to adjustment for earlier emotional and behavioural problems, verbal cognitive ability, ethnicity, family structure, social class and poverty, and maternal education and depressed mood
Subject specific and population average models for binary longitudinal data: a tutorial
Get PDFUsing data from the British Household Panel Survey, we illustrate how longitudinal repeated measures of binary outcomes are analysed using population average and subject specific logistic regression models. We show how the autocorrelation found in longitudinal data is accounted for by both approaches, and why, in contrast to linear models for continuous outcomes, the parameters of population average and subject specific models for binary outcomes are different. To illustrate these points, we fit different models to our data set using both approaches, and compare and contrast the results obtained. Finally, we use our example to provide some guidance on how to choose between the two approaches
Focussing and funding a longitudinal study of health over 20 years: the MRC National Survey of Health and Development from 16 to 36 years
No full textThe first British national birth cohort study was initially concerned principally with health at the birth of its sample in 1946. Throughout its first fifteen years it received only short-term financial support, but still managed to undertake ten follow-up data collections and broaden its focus to include educational and cognitive outcomes. Then in 1962, when cohort members were aged 16 years, the Medical Research Council (MRC) agreed to be the principal funder. Over the next twenty years, during the cohort’s adolescence and early adulthood, discussion about the study’s focus was influenced by the funding source, the cohort’s age, the data, current policy concerns, and current thought and innovations in measurement in epidemiology. That period began with pessimism about the study’s future. However, towards the end of the twenty years, the MRC review of options for continuation revealed new epidemiological questions on mental health and ageing that required life course data. Consequently the study was continued, and extensively revised health outcome indicators and methods of data collection were first used at age 36 years. They provided new baselines against which to measure future health change with age, and new outcomes with which to test life course effects of hypothesised earlier life exposures, experiences and health. This paper shows how the focus of the study was changed and developed by internal and external pressures and influences between 1962 and 1982, when the cohort was aged 16 to 36 years
Socio-economic inequality in childhood and beyond: an overview of challenges and findings from comparative analyses of cohort studies
Get PDFThe growing number of countries with large child cohort studies offers an unprecedented opportunity for comparative research. A topic of central interest in my research is, to what extent the sizable gaps in development that exist between children from different socio-economic status (SES) groups in the US are also present in other countries, and to what extent the mechanisms explaining these gaps are similar or different across countries. This overview draws on the results of comparative analyses of birth cohort study data collected in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, to illustrate the challenges that arise in carrying out this kind of research and the way these challenges were met – in particular those having to do with data access and comparability, and those having to do with causal inference. I conclude that this type of research also offers great promise as shown by findings on SES gaps in child development in the four countries
Design and characteristics of a new birth cohort, to study the early origins and ethnic variation of childhood obesity: the BiB1000 study
Get PDFEpidemiological evidence indicates that early life factors are important for obesity development but there are gaps in knowledge regarding the impact of exposures during pregnancy and early life, especially in South Asian children. There is a corresponding lack of evidence to guide development of culturally-appropriate, obesity prevention programmes. This paper describes the methodology and characteristics of participants in Born in Bradford 1000 (BiB1000), a nested cohort of the Born in Bradford prospective birth cohort. BiB1000 aims to enable a deep and extensive understanding of the predictors and influences of health-related behaviours to develop a culturally-specific obesity prevention intervention. 1,735 mothers agreed to take part in detailed assessments focused on risk factors of obesity. Of these, 1,707 had singleton births. Data were collected from the families during pregnancy, at birth and when the infant was aged 6, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months. Approximately half of the mothers (n=933) are of South Asian ethnicity; of which, just under half were born in the UK. Prevalence of obesity in BiB1000 is similar to the full BiB cohort and to UK national averages. In addition to pre-specified hypothesised targets for obesity prevention, (e.g. parental feeding styles, diet and activity), BiB1000 is exploring qualitative determinants of behaviours andother exposures with a lesser evidence base (e.g. food environments, sleep, parenting practices). These data will enable a rich understanding of the behaviours and their determinants in order to inform the development of a culturally-relevant, childhood obesity prevention intervention
Assessing recall of early life circumstances: evidence from the National Child Development Study
Get PDF Cross-sectional studies and longitudinal studies alike make regular use of retrospective questions about childhood circumstances. However, little is known about the accuracy with which adults can recall this kind of information. This paper seeks to address this topic by comparing retrospective reports of the number of people and the number of rooms in one’s household at age 11 provided by 50 year old members of a birth cohort study, with responses provided contemporaneously by their parents. The paper demonstrates encouraging levels of consistency between retrospective and contemporaneous reports. By examining reports of number of rooms provided by parents living at the same address in two earlier sweeps of the study (at ages 7 and 11), the paper shows that responses to contemporaneous questions may also be inconsistent, suggesting that retrospective questions of this nature may not be hugely less reliable. A retrospective measure of overcrowding at age 11 is derived using the two variables, and compared with a contemporaneous measure. The two measures lead to the same estimate of the extent of overcrowding, but when used in a model examining the odds of experiencing lung problems as an adult, the two measures behave differently. The paper also demonstrates that there are particular groups who are more likely to provide inconsistent responses than others. Around one in five participants were identified as having particularly poor recall, and the likelihood of being in this group was considerably higher amongst those whose childhood circumstances were more complex. The paper also finds that performance in a delayed memory assessment at age 50 was associated with better recall of childhood circumstances
The growing inter-disciplinary field of longitudinal studies beginning in early life: this journal's response
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Gender, justice and domestic work: life course transitions and perceptions of fairness
Get PDFThis paper investigates changes in perceptions of housework fairness as men and women transition from cohabitation to marriage and experience the birth of a child. Using four waves of data from the Negotiating the Life Course project in Australia, we assess how marriage and parenthood alter perceptions of housework fairness. Consistent with previous research we find that the majority of men and women report that the division of labour at home is fair, despite women spending twice as much time on housework as men. Our results show no changes in perceptions of fairness in relation to marital transitions and only weak evidence of changes in relation to parenthood transitions. We conclude that perceptions of housework fairness are not based on an equal sharing of tasks, but are better understood in terms of equity and distributive justice