Bynner, John; Wiggins, RD; Parsons, Samantha; (1996) An exploratory comparative analysis of data collected in the 1958 and 1970 British birth cohort studies. SSRU, City University: London, UK.

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Abstract

Britain is responsible for three Birth Cohort Studies with samples based on a single week's births in 1946, 1958 and 1970. The latter two, the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the Child Health and Education Study (CHES), now known as BCS70, are based at the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) at City University. Each comprise in the order of 16,000 cohort members for each of whom data have been collected at birth, and subsequently at ages 7, 11, 16, 23, 33 and 37 (NCDS), and at birth, 5,10, 16, 25 (BCS70). The value of these studies for testing competing hypotheses about the role of qualifications as opposed personal agency in labour market entry at times of economic stress is demonstrated by a comparative analysis involving data collected in the 1970 and 1958 cohorts. Using regression models the findings demonstrate, in line with human capital theory, that at times of economic stress, the part of personal agency concerned with individual skills and psychological well-being, over and above educational qualifications, does appear to provide a measure of protection against unemployment in the transition from education to work. An analysis is included in which the NCDS data are reweighted to take attrition into account. The paper also includes an examination of some of the design requirements for data collection in cohort studies on participation in education and the labour market, across the period of transition from childhood to adulthood.

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