Information on the study members' parents was collected during the course of the interviews with the study members' mother between 1946 and 1961. In later years, information was collected from the study members themselves on parental death and health conditions.

The maternity study and later fertility extraction sheets collected the age of the mother and the father at the birth of the study member. Although the questions varied in terminology used, in each case when a question referred to the father this was noted to be mother's present husband and not necessarily the father of the child.

Mothers' heights were measured by health visitors at clinics using their own protocols when their study child was aged six years, and mothers reported the height of the father. We believe this to apply to parental weights as well but the study documentation is unclear. A metric version has been derived.

The maternity study recorded the last place of education that the mother attended and in 1952 more detailed information was collected on the education of the mother and the father.

Information regarding illnesses and disabilities experienced by the parents was asked in 1961. The mothers were asked a short, early version of the Maudsley Personality Inventory. In later years information was collected from the study members on the deaths of their parents.

The mother's employment at the start of the 1946 pregnancy was recorded in the maternity study along with her pay and intentions to return to work. However, much of this information was never converted to data files and exists only on the microfiche records of the maternity study.

The occupation of the present husband was recorded in 1946, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1957 and 1961. The mother's work status was also recorded at each of the interviews with the mother. In addition, in 1954 questions were asked of the occupation of the study member's paternal and maternal grandfather.

In the maternity study the mothers were asked their age at their first marriage. The mothers of the study members were not asked their marital status, rather this was collected by health visitor observation. Study members were asked retrospectively about their parents' marriage in 1972.

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