Gemma Catney

Cohort description: The Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS)

Northern Ireland has traditionally been well served with cross-sectional studies, including episodic surveys of poverty and social exclusion, and of health and social well-being. However, such studies are of limited use in either analysis of life-course transitions or in the separation of cause and effect, both important goals of current research strategies where renewed interest in equity and social exclusion is stimulating research into the effects of disadvantage on individuals over time. This is all the more urgent given the increased social and geographical mobility and greater fluidity in people’s lives. Such information can only be derived longitudinally, and there was a dearth of such large-scale general purpose studies in Northern Ireland. Information had not been included in the three British Birth Cohort studies of 1946, 1958 and 1970 and although other longitudinal studies, such as PRIME and Young Hearts, are available they were designed to answer research questions related to specific diseases. Although the British Household Panel Study has recently been extended to include Northern Ireland and there is now a Northern Ireland component to the Millennium Birth Cohort Study, neither is large enough to function as a general purpose longitudinal study to meet the general research or policy needs of Northern Ireland. In the early 2000s, a group of senior statisticians from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) and academics was convened to estimate the cost of a Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS), equivalent to others either already available in England and Wales or, at the time, in development in Scotland. The aim was to have a multi-cohort study that would fulfil a range of academic and policy-related purposes, with a sample size large enough to enable robust analysis of population sub-groups and of areas of policy relevance. Because the experience of the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS) team had shown that linkage to the 1991 census would incur considerable costs, especially if social class for earlier years had to be recoded to the NS-SEC classification used in the 2001 census, it was decided to start with the 2001 census. Funding for the establishment and maintenance of NILS (and its sister study NIMS, see below) was jointly secured in 2003 from the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety and the Research and Development Office of the then Health and Personal Social Services. All funding for the development and maintenance of NILS and NIMS now comes from the Health and Social Care Research and Development Division of the Public Health Agency (HSC R&D Division). NISRA helps to fund the NILS/ NIMS project both through the provision of accommodation to house all aspects of the NILS/NIMS operation and staff to maintain and develop the databases and provide strategic management of the project. Both NILS and NIMS were launched in December 2006.

Exploring a decade of small area ethnic (de-)segregation in England and Wales:

Claims of the self-segregation of minority ethnic groups during the early 2000s were much critiqued in the British academic literature, which pointed instead to decreasing ethnic segregation via the rather benign demographic processes of births and deaths, and internal migration from urban clusters. Despite the attention that these opposing debates received, a detailed study of change in ethnic residential segregation during the period has yet to be undertaken for the whole of England and Wales, and the recent release of 2011 Census data has now made this possible. This paper contributes to the literature by providing a systematic overview of national-level change in residential segregation in a changing socio-political climate, considering how minority ethnic distributions have altered in the last decade. The paper explores the specific case of England and Wales, but in doing so makes a contribution to our understanding of the contemporary evolution of ethnic geographies and the dynamics of diverse places, beyond this specific region. Using a commonly employed measure of spatial unevenness, the Index of Dissimilarity, at the smallest possible geographical level, the findings demonstrate how there has been increased residential mixing between each ethnic group (the White British majority and all minority groups), and that urban locales have experienced a decrease in segregation between 2001 and 2011. The findings disturb the association of ethnic diversity with ethnic divisions in (particularly urban) space and provide support for the somewhat ‘every day’ processes of de-segregation, rather than a cause for concern over increasingly entrenched neighbourhoods.

Diversity and the Complexities of Ethnic Integration in the UK: Guest Editors' Introduction

Ethnic integration in a diverse society is a complex issue and is difficult to measure, conceptualise and interpret. Debates about integration are often made with reference to social cohesion, ethnic concentration, migration, multiculturalism and mixing; these terms are continually debated and re-interpreted, in both academic and policy discourses. The four papers in this special issue challenge our understandings of ethnic integration and associated concepts by demonstrating the value of examining ‘missing’ dimensions of integration, namely, the meaning of space and place, ordinariness, religion and language; by illustrating the dynamic nature of integration and its meaning; and by showing how the study of integration demands varied and innovative research methods.

Exploring the utility of grids for analysing long term population change

Abstract This paper details an innovative approach which enables the analysis of small area population change across four decades. Population surfaces are generated using small area data (enumeration districts or output areas) for each Census from 1971 to 2011 inclusive. The paper details the methods used in the creation of these surfaces, and discusses the rationale behind this approach, arguing that grids represent the most appropriate model for assessing population distributions. Methods for grid creation are tested using pre-existing population grids for Northern Ireland as a benchmark. The method developed is then applied to create population grids for the rest of the UK for 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011. The changing population structures of small areas across these five time points are explored here to illustrate the value of this approach. The publically-available data resource – the final product of the ‘PopChange’ project – will facilitate exploration of long-term changes in populations over small areas. The paper argues that maximum advantage could be taken of the ‘big data revolution’ if such data were gridded in a similar way, allowing them to be placed in a longer-term historical context, using tools made available through the PopChange project.

Residents’ perspectives on defining neighbourhood: mental mapping as a tool for participatory neighbourhood research:

Definitions of neighbourhood in the Social Sciences are complex, varying in their characteristics (for example, perceived boundaries and content) and between residents of that neighbourhood (for example, by class and ethnicity). This study employs an under-utilised methodology offering strong potential for overcoming some of the difficulties associated with neighbourhood definitions. A mental mapping exercise involving local residents is showcased for an ethnically diverse working-class neighbourhood in south Liverpool. The results demonstrate distinctions between residents in the geographical demarcation of the area and the features included, with important implications for how neighbourhood is best measured and understood. We suggest that one size does not fit all in definitions of neighbourhood, and that mental mapping should form a more common part of a neighbourhood researcher’s toolkit.

Unpacking Summary Measures of Ethnic Residential Segregation Using an Age Group and Age Cohort Perspective

The residential segregation literature has underplayed the significance of age in shaping the ethnic compositions of neighbourhoods. This paper develops an age group and age cohort perspective as a way to unpack summary measures of residential segregation. Harmonised small area data for England and Wales (2001–2011) are used as a case study to explore the potential of this methodology for understanding better the role of age in the evolution of ethnic residential geographies. Our findings demonstrate the age-specificity of residential segregation, for both cross-sectional patterns and change over time. Levels of segregation vary among age groups and age cohorts and between ethnic groups, with a changing pattern of segregation as people age. Exploring change over a 10-year period, we observe that residential segregation decreases during young adulthood for all age cohorts, then increases during the late 20s and early 30s, and continues to increase until retirement. These trends are, for the most, consistent between ethnic groups. Our findings emphasise how residential segregation is a dynamic process with a significant life cycle component, with commonalities in residential decision-making between ethnic groups through the life course.