The PEACH file brings together information on pregnancy and early childhood collected in the main Understanding Society survey. Understanding Society collects comprehensive information on various social, economic and behavioural factors, alongside information on babies and children in the household, giving researchers a view on the the entire family before and after childbirth. Parents answer questions on fertility, pregnancy and child development, and children complete their own survey from the age of 10.
PEACH is designed to help researchers who are interested in child development topics engage seamlessly with the Understanding Society main survey. This dataset is designed to be linked to the main Understanding Society datasets SN 6614 (end user licence), SN 6931 (special licence) or SN 6676 (secure access), so that the child’s development can be related to their broader family circumstances.
The information in the file is provided at child level and all variables within each category are time-specific and remain constant across all waves. Information relating to childcare and child maintenance is not included in the PEACH file, but is available in the main survey data. A total of 35,838 children have been reported in the child data collected by Understanding Society.
The new edition
This latest edition of the datafile includes data from Wave 14 of Understanding Society. Primary sample unit and Strata variables have been added to aid researchers. PEACH can be accessed via the UK Data Service. Full information about the file can be found in the user guide.
Understanding Society: Pregnancy and Early Childhood (PEACH), 2009-2024, SN: 9075.
Family and households
