UKRI researchers are set to test innovative approaches to a major new UK-wide study that will follow babies born in the 2020s over many decades.The study will aim to understand how societal circumstances and events affect them. A £3 million investment, made by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, will allow researchers to develop a two-year-long birth cohort feasibility study.
Half of students rated as ‘disadvantaged’ not from low-income background – study
Elite universities are under increased pressure to widen access to their courses (Chris Ison/PA)
A measure used by universities to spot socio-economic disadvantage is “not effective” at identifying poorer students who need support, a report suggests.
Nearly half (48%) of students classified as “disadvantaged” under the Polar measure – which assesses whether a young person comes from an area with low participation in higher education- are not from a low-income background, according to the Sutton Trust report.
The Polar (Participation of Local Areas) measure is biased against certain groups – including BAME students, those living in London and those with young mothers, the study suggested.
Elite universities are under increased pressure to widen access to their courses (Chris Ison/PA)
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A measure used by universities to spot socio-economic disadvantage is “not effective” at identifying poorer students who need support, a report suggests.
Nearly half (48%) of students classified as “disadvantaged” under the Polar measure – which assesses whether a young person comes from an area with low participation in higher education- are not from a low-income background, according to the Sutton Trust report.
UK – Researchers from University College London and Ipsos Mori are part of a team preparing to launch a birth cohort study during the coming year.
The ‘Children of the 2020s’ study will include babies born in April, May and June 2021 and will analyse the experiences of young children in England growing up during this decade.
The research team from UCL, Ipsos Mori, the University of Oxford, Birkbeck, University of London and the Anna Freud Centre will recruit 8,000 families in early 2022.
Participating families will be interviewed when the child is nine months old and annually thereafter. The research will also use a smartphone app to record video and audio of children’s progress.
But even if adolescents appear more mature, drinking alcohol is still not safe for them, researchers say.
The study in
Child Development aimed to discover why adolescents who go through puberty early are more likely than their peers to drink alcohol.
“A surprising proportion of parents in our study allowed their early-developing children to drink alcohol at the age of 14 in fact, one in seven,” says Rebecca Bucci, a doctoral candidate in criminology at Penn State University.
“It is important to remember that early puberty does not mean the child is more advanced in cognitive or brain development. They are not older in years or more socially mature. So allowing them freedoms common for young adults is risky.”