Intergenerational and Life-Course Transmission of Social Exclusion in the 1970 British Cohort Study

Wendy Sigle-Rushton

Published February 2004

This study used data from the British Cohort Study to examine the relationships between childhood background experiences and a variety of indicators of adult well-being. Similar to an earlier study that analyses the National Child Development Study, we use a rich array of childhood background information and examine the associations for men and women separately. Similar to findings for the earlier cohort, there is evidence of inter-generational transmission of certain outcomes. Cohort members who lived in social housing as children are more likely to live in social housing as adults. Those with fathers who were manually employed are more likely to be manually employed themselves, and those whose families were poor are more likely to have low incomes. Academic test scores and parental housing tenure stand out as two of the strongest and most consistent correlates of adult disadvantage. For males, in particular, evidence of childhood aggression is also a consistent and fairly strong predictor of poor outcomes.