Context or composition? Exploring the adult health and well-being of British children born in different regions

The aim of the research is to explore how multiple social and spatial disadvantage at birth and in early childhood may combine to affect health and well-being in adulthood at age 30 using the British Cohort Study (BCS70). Traditionally researchers examining the geography of poverty or disadvantage have bridged only two disciplines: sociology and geography, or have focused on single outcomes such as mortality or morbidity rates (Dorling, 1997; Tunstall et al, 2007). However this research takes a deeper view of “context”, based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, where the development of a child depends on the interaction of complex layers in their environment (physical, familial, peers, neighbourhood, wider society). This research therefore crosses several disciplinary boundaries by utilising indicators of early health, cognitive ability and behaviour in the modelling process as well as socioeconomic ones. Some of the variables explored include: birth trauma, breast-feeding, maternal “malaise”, antisocial/hyperactive behaviour at age 5, an index of early adverse events and child health problems.