Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The collection of cohort twin zygosity data for the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) was undertaken as a part of the project The Relative Importance of Nature, Nurture, and Peer Effects on Adult Outcomes, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

The aims and objectives of the project were:

• to provide a more complete and accurate dataset which identifies the zygosity (whether the twins were identical or not) of the twins in the NCDS and the BCS70;
• to use the data held on the twins in the NCDS and BCS70 to consider the relative importance of nature, nurture, and peer effects in childhood and adult outcomes such as education, employment, and earnings; and
• to identify the relative importance of nature, nurture, and peer effects on each adult outcome across the two cohorts and within the two cohorts across time in order to assess whether and how these relative effects change over the life course and the stability or change in these patterns for people born at different times.

Information on the BCS70 and NCDS series may be found on the Institute of Education Centre for Longitudinal Studies website.


Main Topics:

Zygosity of twins in the BCS70 and NCDS cohorts. See documentation for further details.