Three Generations of Children

Synopsis: Great Britain is unique in having started three national birth cohort or longitudional studies of children at intervals of 12 years, over a period of 24 years. These studies have provided the opportunity to study childhood as it was in 1946, 1958 and 1970, the years in which the studies began, and also to study the progression of these same children through infancy to the teenage years, and ultimately to adult life. The first cohort was begun by Dr James Douglas in March 1946 and is a follow-up study of five and a half thousand children, a sample of all those born in one week in 1946.
The second cohort was begun in March 1958 by Professor Neville Butler and was later taken over for its second and subsequent contacts by Dr Mia Kellmer Pringle. This study followed up all the 16,000 children from the birth week. The third study was begun in 1970 and its follow-up has been directed by Professor Neville Butler. This too is a study of a week’s birth from April 1970 and these 15,000 children have been studied to 10 years of age. The programme discusses the origins of each of these studies, their funding, longitudinal method and the use that has been made of the findings.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Video; Videocassette. U-matic, VHS. col. 55 min.
Year of production: 1982
Availability: Sale
Subjects: Sociology
Keywords: child development; cohort analysis; paediatric medicine; social surveys