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 nine 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) and the ninth sweep was conducted in 2013 when respondents were aged 55 (held under SN 7669). 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).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.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. 

National Child Development Study: Understanding Individual Behaviour, 2010 is a pilot study completed by an inter-disciplinary network of researchers as part of the ESRC’s Understanding Individual Behaviour programme. The network’s core aim was to explore individual differences in mid-life cognitive capacity and how these relate to experiences and behaviour earlier in life. The pilot study was conducted with a sub-sample of NCDS members living in and around Cambridge in 2010, when study members were aged 52, and sought to investigate the potential for conducting neuro-psychological assessments with purposive sub-samples from the British Birth Cohort Studies. The aim was to recruit individuals with particular cognitive ability trajectories between childhood and mid-adulthood. Childhood cognitive ability was measured using the age 11 General Ability Test (GAT). Adult cognitive ability was measured using cognitive assessments conducted at age 50. Potential participants were invited to a research centre at the University of Cambridge to complete a 90 minute testing session which involved three main elements:1. Repetition of the cognitive assessments included in the NCDS age 50 survey (NCDS8): a) Word-list recall/delayed word-list recall - a test of verbal learning and recall; b) Animal naming - a test of verbal fluency; c) Letter cancellation - a test of attention, mental speed and visual scanning.2. Five CANTAB (Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery) tasks: a) Paired Associates Learning test (PAL) - a visuospatial associative learning test which assesses visual memory and new learning; b) Graded Naming Test (GNT) - a test of semantic and/or verbal memory; c) Affective Go/No-go(AGN) - a test of affective decision making and information processing biases; d) Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) - a test of decision making and risk taking; and e) Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP) - a test of attention and general information processing.3. A short self-completion questionnaire.In total, 45 study members participated in the pilot study. Further information is available from investigating the genetic, social and neuropsychological influences on individual differences in impulsivity and in memory using a lifecourse approach ESRC Award web page.

Main Topics:

The participants were divided into three groups: Decline group: Those whose performance in the cognitive assessments completed at age 50 was poorer than would have been predicted from their childhood cognitive ability as measured at age 11 (N=16). Consistent high scorer group: This group were matched to the decline group on childhood cognitive ability level, but did not exhibit any signs of decline (N=14). Consistent low scorer group: This group were matched to the experimental group on their age 50 cognitive ability), but had different cognitive ability levels in childhood (most likely having low cognitive ability throughout their lives) (N=12).

Purposive selection/case studies

Face-to-face interview

Self-completion

Psychological measurements