Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The British Social Attitudes (BSA) survey series is designed to complement large-scale government surveys such as the General Household Survey and the Labour Force Survey, which collect mainly factual and behavioural data. One of its main purposes is to allow the monitoring of patterns of continuity and change, and the examination of the relative rates at which attitudes, in respect of a range of social issues, change over time. The Young People's Social Attitudes Survey (YPSA) is an offshoot of the 1994 BSA survey. It was designed to explore the attitudes and values of children and young people, and where possible to make comparisons with those held by adults in 1994. A further YPSA survey was carried out in 1998 as an offshoot of the 1998 BSA. It is held at the UK Data Archive under SN:4231.

Main Topics:

Key topics covered included: age of consent; judgements of right and wrong; education, school life and sex education; crime and punishment; race prejudice and discrimination; family life and gender roles; political knowledge, political interest and political identity; important factors in 'doing well in life'; life ambitions and aspirations.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Face-to-face interview