Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The National Child Development Study (NCDS) is a continuing longitudinal study that seeks to follow the lives of all those living in Great Britain who were born in one particular week in 1958. The aim of the study is to improve understanding of the factors affecting human development over the whole lifespan.

The NCDS has its origins in the Perinatal Mortality Survey (PMS) (the original PMS study is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 2137). This study was sponsored by the National Birthday Trust Fund and designed to examine the social and obstetric factors associated with stillbirth and death in early infancy among the 17,000 children born in England, Scotland and Wales in that one week. Selected data from the PMS form NCDS sweep 0, held alongside NCDS sweeps 1-3, under SN 5565.

Survey and Biomeasures Data (GN 33004):
To date there have been ten attempts to trace all members of the birth cohort in order to monitor their physical, educational and social development. The first three sweeps were carried out by the National Children's Bureau, in 1965, when respondents were aged 7, in 1969, aged 11, and in 1974, aged 16 (these sweeps form NCDS1-3, held together with NCDS0 under SN 5565). The fourth sweep, also carried out by the National Children's Bureau, was conducted in 1981, when respondents were aged 23 (held under SN 5566). In 1985 the NCDS moved to the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) - now known as the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). The fifth sweep was carried out in 1991, when respondents were aged 33 (held under SN 5567). For the sixth sweep, conducted in 1999-2000, when respondents were aged 42 (NCDS6, held under SN 5578), fieldwork was combined with the 1999-2000 wave of the 1970 Birth Cohort Study (BCS70), which was also conducted by CLS (and held under GN 33229). The seventh sweep was conducted in 2004-2005 when the respondents were aged 46 (held under SN 5579), the eighth sweep was conducted in 2008-2009 when respondents were aged 50 (held under SN 6137), the ninth sweep was conducted in 2013 when respondents were aged 55 (held under SN 7669), and the tenth sweep was conducted in 2020-24 when the respondents were aged 60-64 (held under SN 9412).

A Secure Access version of the NCDS is available under SN 9413, containing detailed sensitive variables not available under Safeguarded access (currently only sweep 10 data). Variables include uncommon health conditions (including age at diagnosis), full employment codes and income/finance details, and specific life circumstances (e.g. pregnancy details, year/age of emigration from GB).

Four separate datasets covering responses to NCDS over all sweeps are available. National Child Development Deaths Dataset: Special Licence Access (SN 7717) covers deaths; National Child Development Study Response and Outcomes Dataset (SN 5560) covers all other responses and outcomes; National Child Development Study: Partnership Histories (SN 6940) includes data on live-in relationships; and National Child Development Study: Activity Histories (SN 6942) covers work and non-work activities. Users are advised to order these studies alongside the other waves of NCDS.

From 2002-2004, a Biomedical Survey was completed and is available under End User Licence (EUL) (SN 8731) and Special Licence (SL) (SN 5594). Proteomics analyses of blood samples are available under SL SN 9254.

Linked Geographical Data (GN 33497):
A number of geographical variables are available, under more restrictive access conditions, which can be linked to the NCDS EUL and SL access studies.

Linked Administrative Data (GN 33396):
A number of linked administrative datasets are available, under more restrictive access conditions, which can be linked to the NCDS EUL and SL access studies. These include a Deaths dataset (SN 7717) available under SL and the Linked Health Administrative Datasets (SN 8697) available under Secure Access.

Multi-omics Data and Risk Scores Data (GN 33592)
Proteomics analyses were run on the blood samples collected from NCDS participants in 2002-2004 and are available under SL SN 9254. Metabolomics analyses were conducted on respondents of sweep 10 and are available under SL SN 9411.

Additional Sub-Studies (GN 33562):
In addition to the main NCDS sweeps, further studies have also been conducted on a range of subjects such as parent migration, unemployment, behavioural studies and respondent essays. The full list of NCDS studies available from the UK Data Service can be found on the NCDS series access data webpage.

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 NCDS that are not held at the UKDS, see the CLS Genetic data and biological samples webpage.

Further information about the full NCDS series can be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies website.

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