Monday, May 21, 2007

What a difference 12 years makes


In the 1958, midwives across Britain were charged with identifying every one of the 17,000 children born in one week. Then, with their parents' permission, they started tracking what the children experienced in their lives from that moment on. These people are now aged 49 years.

For nearly half a century social scientists have scrutinized every aspect of their lives from childhood and adolescence through their teenage years and into adulthood.

The study was so successful that in 1970 it was repeated with another 17,000 babies (they are now 37 years) and then, in 2000, another 18,000. Details about their hobbies, friendships, aspirations, education, careers, health and love lives have been used to build up the most detailed picture of three generations ever created.

This is an astonishing social research project and provides an insight into the changing behavior of Brits. It is pity they did not start the experiment a decade earlier.

The above chart illustrates the difference that 12 years between their births makes to their behavior. Dick Stroud

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