Understanding Society User Support

Hello Leonie,

There isn’t a straightforward way to do this, nor does the study include a specific question about deceased children. However, you may find it useful to explore the variable dcsedfl_dv (respondent reported deceased), which is a yes/no indicator, and dcsedw_dv (wave respondent was reported deceased), which identifies the wave in which the respondent was reported as deceased. After that, you would need to determine who their children were using file egoalt. These variables are located in xwavedat and xhhrel, meaning they are independent of a specific dataset (UKHLS or BHPS) and wave.

Additionally, you could complement this with the variable pregout (Did this pregnancy result in a live birth with a normal delivery or by caesarean section?), using response option 3 (not a live birth). There are also follow-up questions such as lchyd4 and lchsx that may be relevant. For more information on these variables, please review “main stage variable search” at https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/documentation/mainstage/variables/

You may also find it helpful to review a paper by our Fellow, Alessandro Di Nallo and coauthor, on Job loss during pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage and stillbirth (https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dead183). This study may provide insights into how deceased children are treated in the analysis.

I hope this information is helpful.

Best wishes,
Roberto Cavazos
Understanding Society User Support Team