Jane Elliott | University of Exeter (original) (raw)

Papers by Jane Elliott

The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institution of ... more The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institution of Education. It provides support and facilities for those using the three internationally-renowned birth cohort studies: the National Child Development Study (1958), the 1970 British Cohort Study and the Millennium Cohort Study (2000). CLS conducts research using the birth cohort study data, with a special interest in family life and parenting, family economics, youth life course transitions and basic skills. The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic and Social Research Council. All errors and omissions remain those of the authors.

The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institution of ... more The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institution of Education. It provides support and facilities for those using the three internationally-renowned birth cohort studies: the National Child Development Study (1958), the 1970 British Cohort Study and the Millennium Cohort Study (2000). CLS conducts research using the birth cohort study data, with a special interest in family life and parenting, family economics, youth life course transitions and basic skills. The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic and Social Research Council. All errors and omissions remain those of the authors. This document is available in alternative formats. Please contact the Centre for Longitudinal Studies.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2017

Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) may contribute to successful aging by helping old... more Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) may contribute to successful aging by helping older people maximize well-being in the context of physical decline. To explore this hypothesis, and to investigate the potential for narrative analysis to improve understanding of SOC, we analyze interviews conducted with 15 members of the 6-Day Sample, a cohort of Scots born in 1936. Interviewees were chosen based on their physical function and well-being scores. Interviews were analyzed to investigate "SOC talk," that is, older people's talk about SOC behaviors in everyday life. Types and amounts of SOC talk were quantified, and talk was narratively analyzed. We hypothesized that older people who engaged in more SOC talk would have higher well-being. Older people who engaged in high levels of SOC talk had high well-being despite low physical function. Those who engaged in little SOC talk had low well-being despite higher physical function. The concept of successful aging is...

Population-based, prospective longitudinal cohort studies are considering the issues surrounding ... more Population-based, prospective longitudinal cohort studies are considering the issues surrounding returning findings to individuals as a result of genomic and other medical research studies. While guidance is being developed for clinical settings, the process is less clear for those conducting longitudinal research. This paper discusses work conducted on behalf of The UK Cohort and Longitudinal Study Enhancement Resource programme (CLOSER) to examine consent requirements, process considerations and specific examples of potential findings in the context of the 1958 British Birth cohort. Beyond deciding which findings to return, there are questions of whether re-consent is needed and the possible impact on the study, how the feedback process will be managed, and what resources are needed to support that process. Recommendations are made for actions a cohort study should consider taking when making vital decisions regarding returning findings. Any decisions need to be context-specific, arrived at transparently, communicated clearly, and in the best interests of both the participants and the study.

AGE, 2014

The APOE ε2/3/4 genotype has been associated with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and... more The APOE ε2/3/4 genotype has been associated with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and Alzheimer disease. However, evidence for associations with measures of cognitive performance in adults without dementia has been mixed, as it is for physical performance. Associations may also be evident in other genotypes implicated in LDL-C levels. As part of the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) collaborative research programme, genotypic information was obtained for APOE ε2/3/4, rs515135 (APOB), rs2228671 (LDLR) and rs629301 (SORT1) from eight cohorts of adults aged between 44 and 90+years. We investigated associations with four measures of cognitive (word recall, phonemic fluency, semantic fluency and search speed) and physical capability (grip strength, get up and go/walk speed, timed chair rises and ability to balance) using meta-analyses. Overall, little evidence for associations between any of the genotypes and measures of cognitive capability was observed (e.g. pooled beta for APOE ε4 effect on semantic fluency z score= −0.02; 95 % CI = −0.05 to 0.02; p value = 0.3; n = 18,796). However, there was borderline evidence within studies that negative effects of APOE ε4 on nonverbal ability measures become more apparent with age. Few

Social Science & Medicine, 2014

There is now a body of evidence that demonstrates strong links between neighbourhood characterist... more There is now a body of evidence that demonstrates strong links between neighbourhood characteristics and mental health and wellbeing. There is an increasing interest in how this relationship varies for individuals of different ages. Understanding the link between neighbourhood and wellbeing for older adults is of particular significance, given the changing age structure of the population and the desire among policy makers and practitioners to promote healthy and active ageing. This paper provides further evidence on the nature and strength of the link between individual perceptions of neighbourhood belonging and mental wellbeing among those over age fifty using both qualitative and quantitative data from three British cohort studies. Between 2008 and 2011 quantitative data were collected from 10,312 cohort members, and 230 of them took part in qualitative biographical interviews. Quantitative analysis confirms that there is a moderate association between neighbourhood cohesion and wellbeing measured at the individual level in each of the three cohorts. This association persists after controlling for a range of covariates including personality. The association between neighbourhood cohesion and wellbeing is stronger for individuals in the older two cohorts than in the younger cohort. Using qualitative biographical interviews with 116 men and 114 women we illustrate how individuals talk about their sense of neighbourhood belonging. The importance of social participation as a mechanism for promoting neighbourhood belonging, and the use of age and life stage as characteristics to describe and define neighbours, is clear. In addition, the qualitative interviews point to the difficulties of using a short battery of questions to capture the varied and multi-dimensional nature of neighbourhood relations.

This paper draws attention to the narrative potential of longitudinal studies such as the British... more This paper draws attention to the narrative potential of longitudinal studies such as the British Birth Cohort Studies (BBCS), and explores the possibility of creating narrative case histories and conducting narrative analysis based on information available from the studies. The BBCS have historically adopted a quantitative research design and used structured interviews and questionnaires to collect data from large samples of individuals born in specific years. However, the longitudinal nature of these studies means that they follow the same sample of individuals from birth through childhood into adult life, and this leads to the creation of data that can be understood as a quantitative auto/biography.

International journal of epidemiology, 2006

BCS70 began as the British Births Survey, when data was collected about the births and social cir... more BCS70 began as the British Births Survey, when data was collected about the births and social circumstances of over 17 000 babies born in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Data were collected using a questionnaire completed by the midwife who had ...

International journal of epidemiology, 2006

The 1958 birth cohort or the National Child Development Study (NCDS) began as a study of Perinata... more The 1958 birth cohort or the National Child Development Study (NCDS) began as a study of Perinatal Mortality focussing on just over 17 000 births in a single week in 1958. To address concerns regarding the stillbirth rate not falling, the original study aimed to identify social ...

Twenty-First Century Society, 2010

The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction to the information provided by the British Bi... more The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction to the information provided by the British Birth Cohort Studies and to demonstrate the potential for longitudinal analyses and cross cohort comparisons. More specifically, it provides a comparison of the household and family ...

Ageing and Society, 2014

ABSTRACTIn an increasingly ageing society, its older members are receiving considerable political... more ABSTRACTIn an increasingly ageing society, its older members are receiving considerable political and policy attention. However, much remains to be learnt about public perceptions ofolderage, particularly the views and experiences of older individuals themselves. Drawing on qualitative interviews carried out with members of two British cohorts (N = 60) who have reached the ‘third age’, this paper discusses perceptions of age, focusing particularly on how perceived advantages and disadvantages differ by respondents' self-reported physical capability. The interviews were carried out in 2010 as part of the HALCyon (Healthy Ageing across the Life Course) collaborative research programme. Findings suggest there is some difference in the way older people view aspects of ageing by capability and that although advantages are widely perceived, physical decline and associated health concerns were the overwhelming theme across the conversations. The article concludes by making tentative su...

A Life Course Approach to Healthy Ageing, 2013

Work, Employment & Society, 2005

Qualitative Research, 2001

PLoS ONE, 2012

Background: Poorer cognitive ability in youth is a risk factor for later mental health problems b... more Background: Poorer cognitive ability in youth is a risk factor for later mental health problems but it is largely unknown whether cognitive ability, in youth or in later life, is predictive of mental wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether cognitive ability at age 11 years, cognitive ability in later life, or lifetime cognitive change are associated with mental wellbeing in older people. Methods: We used data on 8191 men and women aged 50 to 87 years from four cohorts in the HALCyon collaborative research programme into healthy ageing: the Aberdeen Birth Cohort 1936, the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921, the National Child Development Survey, and the MRC National Survey for Health and Development. We used linear regression to examine associations between cognitive ability at age 11, cognitive ability in later life, and lifetime change in cognitive ability and mean score on the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and meta-analysis to obtain an overall estimate of the effect of each. Results: People whose cognitive ability at age 11 was a standard deviation above the mean scored 0.53 points higher on the mental wellbeing scale (95% confidence interval 0.36, 0.71). The equivalent value for cognitive ability in later life was 0.89 points (0.72, 1.07). A standard deviation improvement in cognitive ability in later life relative to childhood ability was associated with 0.66 points (0.39, 0.93) advantage in wellbeing score. These effect sizes equate to around 0.1 of a standard deviation in mental wellbeing score. Adjustment for potential confounding and mediating variables, primarily the personality trait neuroticism, substantially attenuated these associations. Conclusion: Associations between cognitive ability in childhood or lifetime cognitive change and mental wellbeing in older people are slight and may be confounded by personality trait differences.

The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1989

An individual's responses to Goldberg's 30-item General Health Questionnaire are usually ... more An individual's responses to Goldberg's 30-item General Health Questionnaire are usually represented as a single score which provides a measure of the number of psychiatric symptoms reported. No account is taken of the nature of the symptoms. Factor analyses of the GHQ-30 were undertaken in ten randomly selected samples of 600 adults each, and also on 12 age-sex groupings covering the age range 18–98. The results indicate an impressive degree of consistency of the factor structure, and the identification of five distinct factors corresponding to anxiety, feelings of incompetence, depression, difficulty in coping, and social dysfunction.

The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institution of ... more The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institution of Education. It provides support and facilities for those using the three internationally-renowned birth cohort studies: the National Child Development Study (1958), the 1970 British Cohort Study and the Millennium Cohort Study (2000). CLS conducts research using the birth cohort study data, with a special interest in family life and parenting, family economics, youth life course transitions and basic skills. The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic and Social Research Council. All errors and omissions remain those of the authors.

The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institution of ... more The Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) is an ESRC Resource Centre based at the Institution of Education. It provides support and facilities for those using the three internationally-renowned birth cohort studies: the National Child Development Study (1958), the 1970 British Cohort Study and the Millennium Cohort Study (2000). CLS conducts research using the birth cohort study data, with a special interest in family life and parenting, family economics, youth life course transitions and basic skills. The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic and Social Research Council. All errors and omissions remain those of the authors. This document is available in alternative formats. Please contact the Centre for Longitudinal Studies.

The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2017

Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) may contribute to successful aging by helping old... more Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) may contribute to successful aging by helping older people maximize well-being in the context of physical decline. To explore this hypothesis, and to investigate the potential for narrative analysis to improve understanding of SOC, we analyze interviews conducted with 15 members of the 6-Day Sample, a cohort of Scots born in 1936. Interviewees were chosen based on their physical function and well-being scores. Interviews were analyzed to investigate "SOC talk," that is, older people's talk about SOC behaviors in everyday life. Types and amounts of SOC talk were quantified, and talk was narratively analyzed. We hypothesized that older people who engaged in more SOC talk would have higher well-being. Older people who engaged in high levels of SOC talk had high well-being despite low physical function. Those who engaged in little SOC talk had low well-being despite higher physical function. The concept of successful aging is...

Population-based, prospective longitudinal cohort studies are considering the issues surrounding ... more Population-based, prospective longitudinal cohort studies are considering the issues surrounding returning findings to individuals as a result of genomic and other medical research studies. While guidance is being developed for clinical settings, the process is less clear for those conducting longitudinal research. This paper discusses work conducted on behalf of The UK Cohort and Longitudinal Study Enhancement Resource programme (CLOSER) to examine consent requirements, process considerations and specific examples of potential findings in the context of the 1958 British Birth cohort. Beyond deciding which findings to return, there are questions of whether re-consent is needed and the possible impact on the study, how the feedback process will be managed, and what resources are needed to support that process. Recommendations are made for actions a cohort study should consider taking when making vital decisions regarding returning findings. Any decisions need to be context-specific, arrived at transparently, communicated clearly, and in the best interests of both the participants and the study.

AGE, 2014

The APOE ε2/3/4 genotype has been associated with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and... more The APOE ε2/3/4 genotype has been associated with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and Alzheimer disease. However, evidence for associations with measures of cognitive performance in adults without dementia has been mixed, as it is for physical performance. Associations may also be evident in other genotypes implicated in LDL-C levels. As part of the Healthy Ageing across the Life Course (HALCyon) collaborative research programme, genotypic information was obtained for APOE ε2/3/4, rs515135 (APOB), rs2228671 (LDLR) and rs629301 (SORT1) from eight cohorts of adults aged between 44 and 90+years. We investigated associations with four measures of cognitive (word recall, phonemic fluency, semantic fluency and search speed) and physical capability (grip strength, get up and go/walk speed, timed chair rises and ability to balance) using meta-analyses. Overall, little evidence for associations between any of the genotypes and measures of cognitive capability was observed (e.g. pooled beta for APOE ε4 effect on semantic fluency z score= −0.02; 95 % CI = −0.05 to 0.02; p value = 0.3; n = 18,796). However, there was borderline evidence within studies that negative effects of APOE ε4 on nonverbal ability measures become more apparent with age. Few

Social Science & Medicine, 2014

There is now a body of evidence that demonstrates strong links between neighbourhood characterist... more There is now a body of evidence that demonstrates strong links between neighbourhood characteristics and mental health and wellbeing. There is an increasing interest in how this relationship varies for individuals of different ages. Understanding the link between neighbourhood and wellbeing for older adults is of particular significance, given the changing age structure of the population and the desire among policy makers and practitioners to promote healthy and active ageing. This paper provides further evidence on the nature and strength of the link between individual perceptions of neighbourhood belonging and mental wellbeing among those over age fifty using both qualitative and quantitative data from three British cohort studies. Between 2008 and 2011 quantitative data were collected from 10,312 cohort members, and 230 of them took part in qualitative biographical interviews. Quantitative analysis confirms that there is a moderate association between neighbourhood cohesion and wellbeing measured at the individual level in each of the three cohorts. This association persists after controlling for a range of covariates including personality. The association between neighbourhood cohesion and wellbeing is stronger for individuals in the older two cohorts than in the younger cohort. Using qualitative biographical interviews with 116 men and 114 women we illustrate how individuals talk about their sense of neighbourhood belonging. The importance of social participation as a mechanism for promoting neighbourhood belonging, and the use of age and life stage as characteristics to describe and define neighbours, is clear. In addition, the qualitative interviews point to the difficulties of using a short battery of questions to capture the varied and multi-dimensional nature of neighbourhood relations.

This paper draws attention to the narrative potential of longitudinal studies such as the British... more This paper draws attention to the narrative potential of longitudinal studies such as the British Birth Cohort Studies (BBCS), and explores the possibility of creating narrative case histories and conducting narrative analysis based on information available from the studies. The BBCS have historically adopted a quantitative research design and used structured interviews and questionnaires to collect data from large samples of individuals born in specific years. However, the longitudinal nature of these studies means that they follow the same sample of individuals from birth through childhood into adult life, and this leads to the creation of data that can be understood as a quantitative auto/biography.

International journal of epidemiology, 2006

BCS70 began as the British Births Survey, when data was collected about the births and social cir... more BCS70 began as the British Births Survey, when data was collected about the births and social circumstances of over 17 000 babies born in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Data were collected using a questionnaire completed by the midwife who had ...

International journal of epidemiology, 2006

The 1958 birth cohort or the National Child Development Study (NCDS) began as a study of Perinata... more The 1958 birth cohort or the National Child Development Study (NCDS) began as a study of Perinatal Mortality focussing on just over 17 000 births in a single week in 1958. To address concerns regarding the stillbirth rate not falling, the original study aimed to identify social ...

Twenty-First Century Society, 2010

The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction to the information provided by the British Bi... more The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction to the information provided by the British Birth Cohort Studies and to demonstrate the potential for longitudinal analyses and cross cohort comparisons. More specifically, it provides a comparison of the household and family ...

Ageing and Society, 2014

ABSTRACTIn an increasingly ageing society, its older members are receiving considerable political... more ABSTRACTIn an increasingly ageing society, its older members are receiving considerable political and policy attention. However, much remains to be learnt about public perceptions ofolderage, particularly the views and experiences of older individuals themselves. Drawing on qualitative interviews carried out with members of two British cohorts (N = 60) who have reached the ‘third age’, this paper discusses perceptions of age, focusing particularly on how perceived advantages and disadvantages differ by respondents' self-reported physical capability. The interviews were carried out in 2010 as part of the HALCyon (Healthy Ageing across the Life Course) collaborative research programme. Findings suggest there is some difference in the way older people view aspects of ageing by capability and that although advantages are widely perceived, physical decline and associated health concerns were the overwhelming theme across the conversations. The article concludes by making tentative su...

A Life Course Approach to Healthy Ageing, 2013

Work, Employment & Society, 2005

Qualitative Research, 2001

PLoS ONE, 2012

Background: Poorer cognitive ability in youth is a risk factor for later mental health problems b... more Background: Poorer cognitive ability in youth is a risk factor for later mental health problems but it is largely unknown whether cognitive ability, in youth or in later life, is predictive of mental wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether cognitive ability at age 11 years, cognitive ability in later life, or lifetime cognitive change are associated with mental wellbeing in older people. Methods: We used data on 8191 men and women aged 50 to 87 years from four cohorts in the HALCyon collaborative research programme into healthy ageing: the Aberdeen Birth Cohort 1936, the Lothian Birth Cohort 1921, the National Child Development Survey, and the MRC National Survey for Health and Development. We used linear regression to examine associations between cognitive ability at age 11, cognitive ability in later life, and lifetime change in cognitive ability and mean score on the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale and meta-analysis to obtain an overall estimate of the effect of each. Results: People whose cognitive ability at age 11 was a standard deviation above the mean scored 0.53 points higher on the mental wellbeing scale (95% confidence interval 0.36, 0.71). The equivalent value for cognitive ability in later life was 0.89 points (0.72, 1.07). A standard deviation improvement in cognitive ability in later life relative to childhood ability was associated with 0.66 points (0.39, 0.93) advantage in wellbeing score. These effect sizes equate to around 0.1 of a standard deviation in mental wellbeing score. Adjustment for potential confounding and mediating variables, primarily the personality trait neuroticism, substantially attenuated these associations. Conclusion: Associations between cognitive ability in childhood or lifetime cognitive change and mental wellbeing in older people are slight and may be confounded by personality trait differences.

The British Journal of Psychiatry, 1989

An individual's responses to Goldberg's 30-item General Health Questionnaire are usually ... more An individual's responses to Goldberg's 30-item General Health Questionnaire are usually represented as a single score which provides a measure of the number of psychiatric symptoms reported. No account is taken of the nature of the symptoms. Factor analyses of the GHQ-30 were undertaken in ten randomly selected samples of 600 adults each, and also on 12 age-sex groupings covering the age range 18–98. The results indicate an impressive degree of consistency of the factor structure, and the identification of five distinct factors corresponding to anxiety, feelings of incompetence, depression, difficulty in coping, and social dysfunction.