Characteristics of sole registered births and the mothers who register them

This article explores the characteristics of live births where no father was present on the birth certificate (sole registrations) using registration data. It then uses data from the ONS Longitudinal Study to examine some characteristics of mothers who have ever experienced a sole registered live birth. It shows that as a proportion of all births, sole registrations have remained fairly constant over the last two decades, although since 1998 there is some evidence of a fall in the proportion. For mothers born between 1955 and 1962 around nine per cent experienced a sole registration. Those who ever experienced a sole registration were around four years younger when they began their childbearing. These women also had larger families and were more likely to come from a lower social class background.     

Family building intentions in England and Wales: trends,outcomes and interpretations

This article presents and analyses women's childbearing intentions collected in the General Household Survey (GHS). Data from the 21 surveys from 1979 to 2001 show that over that period there has been a fall in women's intended numbers of births. However the latest data (from the 1998, 2000 and 2001 surveys) show that the average number of children intended is still around two, somewhat higher than the average number of children current fertility rates suggest women will have. The questions of whether this difference can be interpreted as possible unmet need for children, whether past intentions have been good predictors of fertility, and how current intentions may be used to inform projections assumptions are discussed. In relation to the last question, fertility intentions by ethnic group are also presented.     

How important are intergenerational cycles of teenage motherhood in England and Wales? A comparison with France

Teenage fertility has fallen substantially in every Western European country except the United Kingdom. This article examines the hypothesis that repetition of teenage motherhood from mother to daughter is a major cause of the UK being the exception. A simple demographic model of fertility across generations is estimated with comparable data from England and Wales and France. The main finding is that mother-daughter repetition can account for only a minor part of the total difference in teenage childbearing between the two countries, especially over the long term. The higher teenage childbearing in England and Wales of those whose mothers began childbearing after their teenage years dominates.     

The Millennium Cohort Study

The Millennium Cohort Study is the latest in the line of British birth cohort studies. MCS resembles its predecessors which follow people born in 1946, 1958 and 1970 in the intention to become multi-purpose longitudinal data resource charting many aspects of individual's lives over time. The families of a sample of around 20,000 babies are being interviewed during 2001-02, when eligible babies reach 9 months, to establish the conditions from which they set out in life. The survey contrasts with the previous cohort studies in various ways. Instead of taking all births in one week, the sample of births is spread over a year; the births are from a selection of electoral wards, thereby enabling eventual analysis by neighbourhood characteristics; it also over samples children living in deprived areas, wards with high ethnic minority populations and samples have been boosted in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The latter UK country has not been covered by the other studies. It interviews fathers as well as mothers, and given that its initial funding comes via the ESRC, puts a greater emphasis on socio-economic data than in early parts of the other studies. MCS has been enhanced by additional Government funding. The research team, based at the Institute of Education, aims to deposit a multi-purpose dataset for public use at the ESRC data Archive in the Spring of 2003.     

Childbearing outside marriage in western Europe

Across most European states in recent decades there have been significant increases in childbearing outside marriage. This article examines the extent to which women have their first child in one of four settings: prior to any partnership; in their first cohabiting partnership; in first marriage; and after a first partnership. Temporal changes in these behaviours and variation according to background characteristics of the women are also examined. For the women who had a child outside any partnership, we examine the extent to which they go on to form partnerships and how long after the birth this happens. For those who had their first child within a cohabiting union, we examine the extent to which they marry and how long after the birth this occurs. Finally, we investigate whether children born within cohabiting unions that do and do not convert into marriages are more or less likely than those born within marriage to see their parents separate.     

Beyond Reflection: Cake and Co-operative Inquiry

Issues arising during a participatory action research project with a group of midwives are explored, in particular, those related to group process, membership, and roles. A Midwives Action Research Group established an Early Mothering Group for women in hospital to talk to each other and form supportive social networks. The time-honored ritual of sharing morning tea and cake allowed both midwives and mothers to experience the therapeutic potential and power of women's ordinary talk.     

New estimates of trends in births by birth order in England and Wales

A greater understanding of past, present and future trends in fertility can be gained from analysing trends in birth order; that is whether a birth is a first, second, third or higher order birth. However, under current legislation, birth order information is not collected at registration for births outside marriage and birth order recorded within marriage is not the true birth order. This article presents revised and updated estimates of true birth order. It discusses the construction of the new estimates and presents analysis relating the births by true birth order to the population of women by parity on both a period (fertility in a particular year) and cohort (fertility of women born in a particular year) basis. The new true birth order figures are also compared to the previous set of estimates.     

Stability and change in ethnic groups in England and Wales

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Longitudinal Study (LS) is an exceptional resource for exploring dynamic processes in individuals' lives for a representative sample of the population of England and Wales and across a thirty year period, including how those processes vary by ethnic group. However, analyses tend to assume a certain stability in the meaning of the ethnic group being studied: the insights into ethnic group differentiation are premised on the fact that the group has the same meaning over time. Here we show how the LS allows us to challenge such notions of group stability. This has practical implications for the ways we measure and conceive of Britain's minority ethnic groups. We illustrate this point with two examples: one exploring the change in ethnic group identification by the same individuals between 1991 and 2001, and the second exploring how loss to follow up is differentially experienced according to ethnic group. We provide some suggestions on the implications of this ethnic group instability for other research.     

Estimates of true birth order for Scotland, 1945-1999

Over the last three decades fertility in Scotland, as measured by the total fertility rate (TFR), has moved from being higher than in England and Wales, to being lower. The annual number of births in Scotland has declined so that in the mid-1990s low fertility became the main driver of the overall population decline that Scotland has been experiencing since 1974. Analysis of fertility by birth order is instrumental in gaining an understanding of past and future fertility trends. Until the rise in births outside marriage in the 1980s data from registration could be used as a proxy for true birth order. However, because birth order is not collected for births outside marriage true birth order now has to be estimated. This article presents the first official estimates of true birth order for Scotland. The construction of these estimates based on a modified version of the method used for England and Wales is discussed. This article also presents analysis relating births by true birth order estimate to the population of women by parity on a cohort basis, and makes comparisons with England and Wales.     

The proportion of adoptees who have received their birth records in England and Wales

Over 70 thousand adults who were adopted in out-of-family adoptions have received their original birth records from ONS since The Children Act, 1975 (Section 26) first enabled them to do so. This article describes how estimates of these adoptees have been made by their year of birth and year of receiving their birth record. It then analyses the trends, with particular reference to the theory that adoption can cause deep-seated psychological problems, setting them within the historical context of adoption in this century.     

Higher qualifications,first-birth timing,and further childbearing in England and Wales

This article examines how strong the association is between the obtaining of higher educational qualifications and later entry to motherhood, and how these are associated with levels and pace of second and subsequent childbearing. Data from the ONS Longitudinal Study are used to estimate these associations for women born in England and Wales between 1954 and 1958. Average age of entry to motherhood is found to be five years later for women with higher qualifications than for those without. Increasing age of motherhood is always associated with a lower likelihood of going on to have another child, but the decline with age is less pronounced for women with a higher qualification. Moreover, for any given age of childbearing, mothers with a higher qualification are more likely than those without to have another child, and are more likely to do so quickly.     

Geographic variations in conceptions to women aged under 18 in Great Britain during the 1990s

This article examines geographic variations in conceptions to women aged under 18. It presents data on conception rates and the percentage leading to abortion for the three countries of Great Britain, the Government Office Regions of England and local authorities within Great Britain. It provides an overview of variations between areas at each of the three geographic levels and examines whether this variation is associated with the social and demographic characteristics of local authority areas. This article is the first occasion on which conception rates for Scotland have been published on a comparable basis to England and Wales and also the first use of the revised ONS classification to examine conceptions to women aged under 18.     

Perpetual postponers? Women's, men's and couple's fertility intentions and subsequent fertility behaviour

In this article data from the British Household Panel Study (BHPS) are used to analyse gender differences in fertility intentions, and the correspondence between fertility intentions and subsequent fertility behaviour. By exploiting couple-level data, we examine whether partners have conflicting preferences for future fertility. Focusing on women who remain childless in their thirties we look at socio-demographic factors related to the intention to remain childless, or to start a family later on in life. By following up women over time, the characteristics of women who go on to have a child later on in life are considered. The importance of having a partner and the fertility intention of that partner in predicting whether a birth will occur are also examined.     

The effect of changes in timing of childbearing on measuring fertility in England and Wales

Changes in the ages at which women give birth to their children mean that fertility measured at a particular point in time (period) may not be a good representation of the ultimate fertility of those women. The common measure of period fertility is the total fertility rate, which in 2001 has fallen to the lowest level since records began in England and Wales. This article presents various methods that have been proposed to adjust period fertility data to take account of changes in the timing of childbearing, applied to England and Wales data. The article concludes that while these adjustment methods provide useful insights, for example, that the total fertility rate has underestimated period quantum fertility since the 1970s, the measures produced are difficult to interpret. This is in part because the concept they are trying to measure, period quantum is itself imprecise. The adjustments do not necessarily provide a reliable indicator of underlying cohort fertility.     

Children's family change: reports and records of mothers, fathers and children compared

Family change, when adults depart or arrive around children, raises policy issues. Its measurement depends upon the evidence collected and from whom. This paper compares British children's histories obtained from fathers and mothers. The evidence, on one birth cohort of parents, comes from two sources: the National Child Development Study and the ONS Longitudinal Study. The resulting account of family change is not substantially different between parents. There is some under-reporting of children not living with their fathers. This is due to under-reporting by those included in the studies and to under-representation in them of absent fathers and lone parents.     

Fragmented life courses: the changing profile of Britain's ethnic populations

This article describes the potential of the Longitudinal Study to analyse different ethnic groups by broad period of entry. This is illustrated with the use of one variable (childlessness), but could be the basis for further analytical work on other variables. Each group has a unique demographic profile, which is largely explained by its migration history. Migration influences important life course transitions. Differences between more established residents (present in 1981 and 1991) and less established residents (present in 1991 only) imply that generalisations for the entire ethnic group or future generations should not be made.     

Home births in the UK, 1955 to 2006

This article presents data on trends in the percentage of maternities taking place at home in the UK. As well as the national trend, the article examines how home maternity levels vary according to mother's age, number of previous live births within marriage, country of birth, region, local authority and NHS Trust. Examination of trends and variations in home maternity levels provides a context for debates regarding factors that may influence where women give birth.     

Estimates of the population by ethnic group for areas within England

This article describes, and provides some initial analysis of, the experimental population estimates by ethnic group for areas within England published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in January 2006. The article considers growth and the population structure of each of the ethnic groups identified in the 2001 Census; subnational patterns of change; population turnover; and measures of diversity and segregation, and also provides a comparison of the estimates and corresponding sample-based estimates from the Labour Force Survey.     

Migration, Ethnicity and Privilege

Representation assumes that those who govern have knowledge of those for whom they govern. It is easy to presume knowledge of the “other”, but as we know this can be based in prejudice, cultural difference, or simply misinformation or simplification. Usually our explorations of this process have focused on populations identified as disadvantaged, disempowered or somehow “non-privileged”. However, the research process outlined here has revealed previously unexplored diversity within a population commonly described as privileged suggesting that good governance requires alertness to presuming to know both the unprivileged and the privileged. The research approach outlined in this paper has used a blend of historical reappraisal and qualitative techniques focusing on a population who have been conceptualized as doubly privileged. This population focus is that of older British; post World War II male migrants in South Australia. These people have been conceptualized as privileged because they are male, and they were part of the preferred ethnic group that Australian politicians and policy makers favoured post WW2. However, review of the historical data and qualitative interviews with some of these men show that the accepted narrative of a homogenous pre-WW2 British origin population is over simplistic. The historical research suggests that the presumption that post WW2 British migrant men were coming into an homogenous, privileging environment in migrating to SA is both ahistorical and crude. Furthermore the belief that post WW2 British migrant men were ethnically homogenous is undermined by the qualitative research, that reveals that their presumed homogeneity is much more fluid and nuanced than dominant conceptualisations have allowed. The impact of core ethnicities that continue to exist and compete in Britain, the social class focus and economic commodification of migrants in the machinations of powerful players in the state of South Australia all confound homogenizing, simplistic knowing of British migrant men in this state. Generically these findings caution social researchers with regard to presuming to know so called “privileged” populations as well as presumed non-privileged groups.