Growing up in Great Britain

The young people who are the subject of the National Child Development Study are now aged 25. For most of their lives they have been monitored by the National Children's Bureau and described in 19 books and 200 chapters and journal articles. Many of the books have dealt with very specific issues or examined the circumstances and development of particular subgroups of young people. Among these publications which have made the greatest impact are: Born to Fail? (Wedge and Prosser, Arrow Books, 1974); Underqualified and Unemployed (Walker, Macmillan, 1982); and Progress in Secondary Schools (Steedman, National Children's Bureau, 1981). However, the last comprehensive account of the wideranging general findings was in From Birth to Seven (Davie, Butler and Goldstein, Longman, 1972). The gap is now remedied by the publication of Growing up in Great Britain, which brings together edited versions of 58 papers, some appearing for the first time, but mainly published over the last decade, and largely based on the 11-and 16-year stages of the study.