Exploring the role of early-life circumstances, abilities and achievements on well-being at age 50 years: evidence from the 1958 British birth cohort study

Objectives: We aim to examine the relative contributions of pathways from middle childhood/adolescence to mid-life well-being, health and cognition, in the context of family socio-economic status (SES) at birth, educational achievement and early-adulthood SES. Our approach is largely exploratory, suspecting that the strongest mediators between childhood circumstances and mid-life physical and emotional well-being may be cognitive performance during school years, material and behavioural difficulties, and educational achievement. We also explore whether the effects of childhood circumstances on mid-life physical and emotional well-being differ between men and women. / Setting/participants: Data were from the National Child Development Study, a fully-representative British birth cohort sample of 17 415 people born in 1 week in 1958. / Primary/secondary outcome measures: Our four primary mid-life outcome measures are: cognitive performance, physical and emotional well-being and quality of life. Our intermediate adult outcomes are early-adulthood social class and educational/vocational qualifications. Results: Using structural equation modelling, we explore numerous pathways through childhood and early adulthood which are significantly linked to our outcomes. We specifically examine the mediating effects of the following: cognitive ability at ages 7, 11 and 16 years; childhood psychological issues; family material difficulties at age 7 years: housing, unemployment, finance; educational/vocational qualifications and social class position at age 42 years. We find that social class at birth has a strong indirect effect on the age 50 outcomes via its influence on cognitive performance in childhood and adolescence, educational attainment and mid-life social class position, together with small direct effects on qualifications and social class position at age 42 years. Teenage cognitive performance has a strong positive effect on later physical health for women, while educational/vocational qualifications have a stronger positive effect on emotional well-being for men. / Conclusion: Our findings provide an understanding of the legacy of early life on multiple aspects of mid-life health, well-being, cognition and quality of life, showing stronger mediated links for men from childhood social class position to early adult social class position. The observed effect of qualifications supports those arguing that education is positively associated with subsequent cognitive functioning

Improving the plausibility of the missing at random assumption in the 1958 British birth cohort: A pragramatic data driven approach

Making the Missing At Random (MAR) assumption more plausible has implications for missing data analysis. We capitalise on the rich data of the National Child Development Study (NCDS - 1958 British birth cohort) and implement a systematic data-driven approach to identify predictors of non-response from the 11 sweeps (birth to age 55) of the NCDS (n = 17,415). We employed parametric regressions and the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator for variable selection. Disadvantaged socio-economic background in childhood, worse mental health and lower cognitive ability in early life, and lack of civic and social participation in adulthood were consistently associated with non-response. Using this information, we were able to restore the composition of the NCDS samples at age 50 and age 55 to be representative of the study’s target population, using external benchmarks, and according to a number of characteristics captured within the original birth sample. We have shown that capitalising on the richness of NCDS allowed us to identify predictors of non-response that improve the plausibility of the MAR assumption. These variables can be straightforwardly used in analyses with principled methods to reduce bias due to missing data and have the strong potential to restore sample representativeness

Missing at random assumption made more plausible: evidence from the 1958 British birth cohort

Objective: Non-response is unavoidable in longitudinal surveys. The consequences are lower statistical power and the potential for bias. We implemented a systematic data-driven approach to identify predictors of non-response in the National Child Development Study (NCDS; 1958 British birth cohort). Such variables can help make the missing at random assumption more plausible, which has implications for the handling of missing data. / Study Design and Setting: We identified predictors of non-response using data from the 11 sweeps (birth to age 55) of the NCDS (n = 17,415), employing parametric regressions and the LASSO for variable selection. / Results: Disadvantaged socio-economic background in childhood, worse mental health and lower cognitive ability in early life, and lack of civic and social participation in adulthood were consistently associated with non-response. Using this information, along with other data from NCDS, we were able to replicate the “population distribution” of educational attainment and marital status (derived from external data), and the original distributions of key early life characteristics. / Conclusion: The identified predictors of non-response have the potential to improve the plausibility of the missing at random assumption. They can be straightforwardly used as “auxiliary variables” in analyses with principled methods to reduce bias due to missing data

National Child Development Study 2008-2009 Follow-Up (INTERIM DEPOSIT) Deposited with the UK Data Archive: A Guide to the Dataset

This is a Guide for researchers who want to work with the data from the 2008 follow-up to the 1958 National Child Development Study

The clustering of risk behaviours in adolescence and health consequences in middle age.

INTRODUCTION: There is increasing interest in the clustering of risk behaviours in adolescence. However, few studies have examined what clusters of risk behaviours exist among adolescents, their early-life predictors, and their associations with later health. METHODS: We analysed data derived from 8754 participants (women 53.3%) in the 1970 British Cohort Study. Latent class analysis was used to identify clusters of risk behaviours at age 16. Regression modelling was then used to examine predictors of clusters and their consequences of risk behaviours and health outcomes at age 42. RESULTS: We identified two latent classes: a risky-behaviour (men: 20.0%, women: 23.6%) and less-risky-behaviour class. Among men, those in the risky-behaviour class were more likely to report smoking, multiple binge drinking, sexual debut before 16, involvement in fights and delinquency than were women. Membership in risky-behaviour class was mainly predicted by sociodemographic and parental risk behaviours and monitoring. The risky-behaviour class at age 16 was associated with the following outcome age 42: smoking status (more strongly among women), excessive alcohol consumption (more strongly among men), worse self-rated health (more strongly among men), and psychological distress (only among women). CONCLUSIONS: Engagement in multiple risk behaviours in adolescence is an important driver of health inequalities later in life. Early life intervention, for example via school-based interventions, may be warranted for favourable lifelong health

Area effects on health variation over the life-course: analysis of the longitudinal study sample in England using new data on area of residence in childhood

There is a growing literature which demonstrates that (a) conditions throughout the life-course are important for health outcomes in older people and (b) ‘contextual’ conditions in the place of residence, as well as individual characteristics influence health variations. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting results of an analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (LS) for England and Wales. The analysis makes use of a new set of variables, which have been added to the LS, describing the social and economic conditions in the 1930s in residential areas where members of the LS sample were registered as living in 1939. The analysis focuses on people who were aged 0–16 in 1939. The health outcomes considered are death between 1981 and 1991, and for those still living, whether long-term illness was reported in the 1991 census. Regression analysis is used to examine the effects of residence in 1981, and data on the registered place of residence in 1939. The analysis shows that individual characteristics and type of area of residence in 1981 were associated with health outcomes. In addition, some variables describing socio-economic conditions in the 1930s contribute independently to the regression models (notably measures of economic deprivation and unemployment). The results suggest that conditions in residential area in early life may help to explain relatively poor health experience of populations in some parts of Britain today

Mortality from cardiovascular disease among interregional migrants in England and Wales.

OBJECTIVE--To investigate the extent to which geographical variations in mortality from ischaemic heart disease and stroke in Britain are influenced by factors in early life or in adulthood. DESIGN--Longitudinal study of migrants. SUBJECTS--1% sample of residents in England and Wales born before October 1939 and enumerated at the 1971 census (the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys' longitudinal study). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE--18,221 deaths from ischaemic heart disease and 9899 deaths from stroke during 1971-88 were analysed by areas of residence in 1939 and 1971. These included 2928 deaths from ischaemic heart disease and 1608 deaths from stroke among individuals moving between 14 areas defined by the major conurbations and nine standard administrative regions of England and Wales. RESULTS--The southeast to northwest gradient in mortality from ischaemic heart disease was related significantly to both the 1939 area (chi 2 = 6.09, df = 1) and area in 1971 (chi 2 = 5.05, df = 1). Geographical variations in mortality from stroke were related significantly to the 1939 area (chi 2 = 4.09, df = 1) but the effect of area in 1971 was greater (chi 2 = 8.07, df = 1). The effect of 1971 area on mortality from stroke was largely due to a lower risk of death from stroke among individuals moving into Greater London compared with migrants to the rest of the South East region (chi 2 = 4.54, df = 1). CONCLUSIONS--Geographical variations in mortality from cardiovascular disease in Britain may be partly determined by genetic factors, environmental exposures, or lifestyle acquired early in life, but the risk of fatal ischaemic heart disease and stroke changes on migration between areas with differing mortality. The low risk of death from stroke associated with residence in Greater London is acquired by individuals who move there

Area effects on health variation over the life-course: analysis of the longitudinal study sample in England using new data on area of residence in childhood

There is a growing literature which demonstrates that (a) conditions throughout the life-course are important for health outcomes in older people and (b) 'contextual' conditions in the place of residence, as well as individual characteristics influence health variations. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting results of an analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (LS) for England and Wales. The analysis makes use of a new set of variables, which have been added to the LS, describing the social and economic conditions in the 1930s in residential areas where members of the LS sample were registered as living in 1939. The analysis focuses on people who were aged 0-16 in 1939. The health outcomes considered are death between 1981 and 1991, and for those still living, whether long-term illness was reported in the 1991 census. Regression analysis is used to examine the effects of residence in 1981, and data on the registered place of residence in 1939. The analysis shows that individual characteristics and type of area of residence in 1981 were associated with health outcomes. In addition, some variables describing socio-economic conditions in the 1930s contribute independently to the regression models (notably measures of economic deprivation and unemployment). The results suggest that conditions in residential area in early life may help to explain relatively poor health experience of populations in some parts of Britain today.Mortality Morbidity Longitudinal effects Place effects Health inequality England and Wales