Child Development Research Unit Longitudinal Study: Composite File Including Ages One, Four, Seven, Eleven and Sixteen, 1958-1978

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The aim of this longitudinal survey study was to investigate parent/child relationships in developmental sequence in order to understand the process of child-rearing as it happens in a fairly typical English urban community. To achieve a detailed picture of the child's behaviour in the home and its immediate surroundings. To study the mother's behaviour in relation to her child and to see how this alters and develops both in accordance with the child's objective age and in response to his idiosyncratic needs and demands. To investigate not only her observable behaviour, but also her attitudes, emotional and intellectual, towards her child. To document national practices and attitudes in relation to many different aspects of child upbringing and discipline, including the aspirations parents have for their children and their philosophical approach to issues in child upbringing.Main Topics:This dataset contains all the data for the longitudinal study at years 1, 4, 7, 11, 16 and Index data from year 7. Age 1 Mother's experience of and attitude towards birth and feeding of child, towards sleeping, toilet training and general behaviour. Actual description of child's behaviour, household arrangements, and father's participation. Abnormal birth, stitches, whether conscious, lay person present, out of bed for whole day in less than five days, relaxation exercises, help at home, breast feeding (whether enjoyed), duration of weaning, feeding schedule, advice, adequacy of diet, eating, sucking, mother's attitude to sucking/dummies. Bedtime, amount of sleep during day/night, woke during night, whether slept alone, whether shared room with family during evening, method of getting to sleep, attitude to crying, whether father attends if child cries at night, time left crying, tantrums, attitude towards tantrums, corporal punishment, toilet training, baby sitting, separation from mother. Independence of child and mother's attitude towards it. Child's aggression, jealousy, and sense of property and mother's response. Age 4 Independence of child, mother's pressure for independence, plays on own, whether a demanding child, mother's responsiveness, aggression, jealousy (action taken), child's property rights, child's eating behaviour and mother's concern, child's sleeping patterns and behaviour, plus mother's attitudes and reactions. Demonstration of affection, sexual modesty score, obedience, and discipline methods, husband/wife agreement, father's participation, nursery school. Age 7 Experience of separation, and child's behaviour when separated from mother. Mother's assessment of child's temperament and ease of management. Child's friendship and sociability, mother's attitude to friends, feelings about child's quarrelling with siblings/other children, degree of interference used. Child's preferences for, and interests in, different kinds of play, fears, tension habits, independence, pocket money, savings and earnings, Attitude towards school, child's reading habits and help from mother, 'teaching' or reading to child, child's writing. Aspirations and extra lessons, parental involvement and shared interest with child, methods of dealing with rudeness, child smacking mother and bad language, whether comics read. Child's truthfulness, tendency to confess. Index Data from Age 7 Ratings for child or mother on various scales measuring: father's participation; home literacy; non-neurotic temperament; neurotic behaviour; neuroticism; temperamental aggression; child centredness; avoidance of adult supervision; child's liking for school; reading and writing competence; home-school concordance; general cultural interests; mother's attitude to discipline; corporal punishment; amenability; bamboozlement; verbal reasoning; intelligence quotient. Age 11 Illness and changes in the child since age seven, choice of siblings as playmate, by age and sex, jealousy and quarrelling between siblings, friendship and sociability, age of playmates, reaction to teasing/bullying, fears, habits, interests, satisfaction with school, educational aspirations, parent's concern for child (e.g. cycling, train journeys, sexual danger). Child's attitude to teachers/reports/homework. Aspects of child which parents find most satisfactory and unsatisfactory, family activities outside and inside home, usual summer holiday, extent of parental censorship, extent and source of sexual knowledge, major source of arguments, non-corporal punishments used, any serious misconduct in last four years on part of child (mother's attitude). Child's self-prediction of job at 21. Age 16 Background; personality; interests and attitudes; social relationships; stress and emotion; education and aspiration; conflict and trust. Background variables for all studies: Sex, social class, ordinal position of child, number of children, place of birth, father's/mother's age. Mother: working; 35 plus; social class. Father: home every night; away from home; shift work. Other adult in house (who and when). Housing type, whether house clean, washing machine.