Longitudinal studies is cross-sectional investigations that measure relationships between variables over a period of time. For example, one might follow a group of males from birth to age 30 to measure their involvement with the criminal justice system over time and relate this information to their parents' socio-economic status. A series of Cross-sectional research investigations taken over time will provide a longitudinal study. Panel Study is a form of longitudinal research in which a panel of respondents or subjects is selected and then followed or interviewed over time. Recent developments in analytical methods and in data collection activities, including the growing number of longitudinal data sets in Canada and worldwide, have allowed for the increased reliance on powerful longitudinal approaches by research projects.
Weatherall, R, H Joshi, S Macran. Double burden or double blessing - employment, motherhood and mortality in the Longitudinal-Study of England and Wales. The OPCS Longitudinal Study has been used to follow up women who were married at the time of the 1971 census, to see if their employment status and responsibility for children at that time had any detectable consequence for their mortality up to 1985. Of particular interest was whether the combination of employment and child rearing produced any signs of role overload, or its opposite hypothesized effect, role enhancement. The results show poorer health among those with neither employment nor children, but these effects did not appear to interact. We suspect the data reveal health selection as much as health effects of the roles taken separately.
The Centre for Longitudinal Studies - Following lives from birth and through the adult years.
Longitudinal studies of effects of divorce on children in Great Britain and the United States - AJ Cherlin, FF Furstenberg Jr, L Chase-Lansdale, KE Kiernan, PK Robins, DR Morrison, and JO Teitler. National, Longitudinal studies from Great Britain and the United States were used to investigate the effects of divorce on children. In both longitudinal studies, a subsample of children who were in two-parent families during the initial interview (at age 7 in the British data and at ages 7 to 11 in the U.S. data) were followed through the next interview (at age 11 and ages 11 to 16, respectively).
Legacies and Lessons: Insights from Longitudinal Studies of Educated Women. Abstract: Postmodern, multiculturalism, and feminist critiques of psychology have changed how longitudinal researchers construct their inquiries and frame their data. Also the new scholarship brings to the longitudinal investigation perspectives from other disciplines including sociology, anthropology, and history, among others. The book used as a framework for this discussion, "Women's Lives Through Time," is an assembly of different studies, thus providing perspective on the changing discipline of Longitudinal studies. Many studies on women were out of print and there was an absence of interdisciplinary dialogue about women's adult development. The longitudinal studies included in the book indicated that longitudinal methodologies have diversified over the years.
Longitudinal Studies of Attitude Change: Issues and Methods.
Abstract: This report makes available in condensed form the methods for performing
longitudinal studies of attitude change and the issues associated with these methods. It is meant to provide a brief
description of the tools available, references to more detailed descriptions, and an
overview of the theoretical and practical issues involved in execution and interpretation
to those wishing to employ longitudinal methodology. Longitudinal studies design and cross-sectional design are compared
in terms of relative advantages and disadvantages. Practical
considerations in doing Longitudinal studies are discussed. The major conclusion drawn in
the report is that while sophisticated methods are available for use, overall development
of the field is being hampered because work progresses independently in several
disciplines.
How to handle informed consent in longitudinal studies when participants have a limited understanding of the study - G Helgesson, J Ludvigsson, U Gustafsson Stolt. Empirical findings from a Swedish longitudinal study show that many of the research subjects had a limited understanding of the longitudinal study. Nevertheless they were satisfied with the understanding they had and found it sufficient for informed continued participation.
Moser, K A, P O Goldblatt. Mortality of Women in the OPCS Longitudinal Study:
Differentials by Own Occupation and Household and Housing Characteristics. LS working
paper 26. 1985.
Moser, K A, P Goldblatt. Mortality of Women in Private and Non-private Households Using
Data from the OPCS Longitudinal Study. LS working paper 14. 1984.
Macran, S. Analysis of women's mortality using the OPCS Longitudinal Study. In: OPCS /
SSRU Longitudinal Study Newsletter No. 9 (November 1993). 1993. p. 4-7.
Lyons, M. Chaos or complexity? Casualisation, feminisation and gentrification in London,
1971-1991. In: Creeser, R, Gleave, S, editors. Migration Within England and Wales Using
the Longitudinal Study. ONS Series LS, No. 9. London: The Stationery Office; 2000. p.
49-61.
Harrop, A, H Joshi. Death and the Saleswoman: an Investigation of Mortality and
Occupational Immobility of Women in the Longitudinal Study of England and Wales. LS
working paper 73. 1994.
Goldblatt, P O. Social Class Mortality Differentials of Men Aged 15-64 in 1981: a Note on
First Results from the OPCS Longitudinal Study for the period 1981-83. LS working paper
42. Updated version in Population Trends No 51. 1986.
Fox, A J, D R Jones. 1971-81 Male Socio-Demographic Mortality Differentials from the OPCS
Longitudinal Study. LS working paper 21. Shortened version published in Population Trends,
1985, 40: 10-16. Full version published in P O Goldblatt, Proceedings of the American
Statistical Association Meeting, August 13-16, 1984. 1984.
Fielding, A J, S Halford. A longitudinal study and regional analysis of gender-specific social
and spatial mobilities in England and Wales, 1981-91. In: Boyle, P, Halfacre, K, editors.
Migration and Gender. London: Routledge; 1998.
Fielding, A J. Gender, class and region in England and Wales - a longitudinal analysis.
Ritsumeikan University Geographical Journal, Kyoto 1998; 10: 1-22.
Donkin, A. Does living alone damage men's health? Reports on an analysis of the
relationship between living alone and risk of death or limiting long-term illness for men
who were present in the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (LS) in both
1971 and 1981. Health Statistics Quarterly 2001; 11 (Autumn 2001): 11-16.
Blackwell, L. Women and Science Teaching: the Demographic Squeeze. Report to the DTI.
mimeo. Centre for Longitudinal Studies; 2001.