Villadsen, Aase;
Parsons, Samantha;
Goisis, Alice;
(2025)
Harmonised fertility histories in four British longitudinal cohort studies.
(CLS Working Paper
2025/6).
UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies: London, UK.
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Abstract
Background: After World War II, Britain has witnessed significant societal changes, including in relation to fertility. Robust longitudinal and cross-cohort research requires data harmonisation to create comparable fertility measures to understand the predictors and consequences of these changes across generations. / Objective: This paper describes the variables included in newly created datasets containing harmonised fertility variables across four British longitudinal cohorts born between 1946 and 1990. The consistency with national statistics on fertility are examined. / Methods: The birth cohorts are: National Survey of Health and Development born in 1946, the 1958 National Child Development Study, the 1970 British Cohort Study, and Next Steps born in 1989/90. / Results: The harmonised datasets include information on the cohort members’ biological children at each survey sweep during childbearing age, such as whether they have any and, if so, how many, age of eldest and youngest child, number of boys and girls, and children by a previous partner. Additional variables related to non-biological children have been derived where possible. The percentage of female cohort members who have had at least one live birth and the number of children at each five-year interval from age 20 to 50 is highly consistent with national statistics on fertility.
| Type: | Working / discussion paper |
|---|---|
| Title: | Harmonised fertility histories in four British longitudinal cohort studies |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/working_papers/harmonised-fe... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Fertility, UK cohort studies, harmonised data, cross-cohort analyses |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Social Research Institute |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10216698 |
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