2. Operationalizing family Examples from the Millennium Cohort Study Lidia Panico Department of Epidemiology and Public Health University College London l.panico@ucl.ac.uk

3. Changing demographic context of parenthood Source: Office for National Statistics

4. Changing demographic context of parenthood Source: Office for National Statistics

5. Sociology and family 1950s sociology Feminist critique of the 1970s and 80s Today: individualism, diversity and “doing” family

6. Insights from demography Beanpole families Non-resident parents

7. At an individual level.. Levin and Trost (1992) Family Relations, Vol. 41, No. 3

8. How is family operationalised in quantitative studies? UK 2001 Census definition: “a married or cohabiting couple with or without child(ren) or a lone parent with child(ren). Child(ren) may be dependent or non-dependent.”

9. Structure of analysis How can we translate sociological theory empirically in the secondary analysis of a large, interdisciplinary data set? How can we adapt this to a health outcome? Does it affect child health?

10. Millennium Cohort Study Prospective cohort study 18,000 children born in 2000/2001 in the UK Over-sample of ethnically mixed and disadvantaged areas Home interviews Sweep 1-- 9 months Sweep 2-- 3 years Sweep 3-- 5 years

11. Family structure HH socio- economic characteristics Networks Quality of relationships Health behaviours Child health and wellbeing Pooling and sharing of resources Family processes

12. Family structure HH demographic & socio-economic characteristics Networks Quality of relationships Health behaviours Child health and wellbeing Pooling and sharing of resources Family processes

14. Family characteristics

17. Diversity over the lifecourse

18. Proportion of households who experience a change in parents

20. Ethnic variation in family living arrangements

21. The larger family

23. Do family living arrangements affect child health? Mean birthweight by family living arrangement

25. Conclusion Different family structures have different socio- economic profiles Diversity of family structures over the lifecourse The importance of non-resident parents and grandparents Diversity over ethnic groups

26. Thank you Mel Bartley Yvonne Kelly Anne McMunn Amanda Sacker ESRC/MRC