The 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) is a longitudinal birth cohort study, following a nationally representative sample of over 17,000 people born in England, Scotland and Wales in a single week of 1970. Cohort members have been surveyed throughout their childhood and adult lives, mapping their individual trajectories and creating a unique resource for researchers. It is one of very few longitudinal studies following people of this generation anywhere in the world.Since 1970, cohort members have been surveyed at ages 5, 10, 16, 26, 30, 34, 38, 42, 46, and 51. Featuring a range of objective measures and rich self-reported data, BCS70 covers an incredible amount of ground and can be used in research on many topics. Evidence from BCS70 has illuminated important issues for our society across five decades. Key findings include how reading for pleasure matters for children's cognitive development, why grammar schools have not reduced social inequalities, and how childhood experiences can impact on mental health in mid-life. Every day researchers from across the scientific community are using this important study to make new connections and discoveries.BCS70 is run by the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS), a research centre in the UCL Institute of Education, which is part of University College London. The content of BCS70 studies, including questions, topics and variables can be explored via the CLOSER Discovery website.How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from a range of longitudinal surveys:For information on how to access biomedical data from BCS70 that are not held at the UKDS, see the CLS Genetic data and biological samples webpage.Secure Access datasetsSecure Access versions of BCS70 have more restrictive access conditions than versions available under the standard End User Licence (EUL). BCS70 County Data, 1986-2012: Special Licence AccessThese data link BCS70 respondents from sweeps 3 – 9 (inclusive). For the fourth edition (January 2020) a new version of the data has been deposited, modified to provide a more consistent geography for researchers. All cohort members in each sweep of the study from 1980 onward (i.e. BCS3) have been allocated to counties (England and Wales) or regions/districts (Scotland), based on 1981 boundaries. The documentation has also been updated. The county data are only available under a Special Licence, which has more restrictive access conditions than the standard End User Licence (EUL) used for the main BCS70 datasets (see 'Access' section). Please contact the HelpDesk for further details. Users who make a successful application for the county data will also need to download the main EUL BCS70 Sweeps 3-9 datasets to match the counties to them. The BCS70 County Data provide geographic data for counties (England and Wales) or regions/districts (Scotland) at 1981 boundaries for respondents to BCS70 Sweep 3 (1980) BCS70 Sweep 4 (1986) BCS70 Sweep 5 (1996) BCS70 Sweep 6 (2000); BCS70 Sweep 7 (2004); BCS70 Sweep 8 (2008); BCS70 Sweep 9 (2012).

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