No abstract

Current interest in "resilient" children -those who are vulnerable to psychopathology yet achieve competence -prompted a study of such children using data from the 1970 British birth cohort. The conceptual framework used to define a sample of "resilient" children within the cohort is described, and results from analyses designed to identify contextual, parenting and experiential factors which substantially increased the chance of resilience in vulnerable children are presented. Vulnerability was defined in terms of the family's socio-economic status when the child was 5, and a Competency Index, based on cognitive/ educational attainment and behavioural adjustment at 10 years, determined which of the vulnerable group were "resilient". The main finding was that having positive, supportive and interested parents was a major factor which enabled socially vulnerable children to achieve competence. Maternal depression -a condition to which low SES mothers were at high risk -substantially reduced the chance of resilience.

Developmental outcome at 5 yr was compared in 1031 singleton children of teenage mothers and 10,950 singleton children of older mothers in a national longitudinal study. Children born to teenage mothers and living with them through the first 5 yr performed less well than other children in tests of vocabulary and behaviour at 5 yr of age; they were also shorter on average and had a smaller head circumference. These differences remained significant after allowing for certain social and biological factors, whereas a difference on visuomotor coordination did not. Teenage mothering thus appears somewhat disadvantageous to children's development.

No abstract

Occupational classifications have long been the conventional method of assigning individuals, families and household to social class or socio-economic status positions. This practice has been subject to mounting criticism in recent years, either because of doubts about the validity of scales such as the OPCS Classification of Occupations or because of objections to the use of husbands' occupations to assign their wives and families to a class position. This article reviews this debate, and proposes an alternative method of assessing the socio-economic status of families by means of a composite Social Index comprising seven social indicators: occupation and education of the heads of household, housing tenure, type of accommodation, persons per room, car and telephone ownership. The construction and rationale of the Index are described and its special advantages explained. These include the capability of providing an assessment of the socio-economic status of single-parent families having no relevant occupational information, and increased sensitivity and reliability compared with OPCS social class.