Girlhood and Later Life: Girls Growing Up in Britain 1954-1976 and the Implications for Later-Life Experience and Identity, 1939-2020.

This is a qualitative data collection comprised of interviews with 70 women generated as part of an ESRC funded study 'Transitions and Mobilities: Girls growing up in Britain 1954-76 and the implications for later-life experience and identity' (ES/P00122X/1), otherwise known as the ‘Girlhood and Later Life Project’. This study addressed women born 1939-52 who became young adults in Britain 1954-76. The youth of this generation has immense historical and current significance. These women grew up in a period of far-reaching post-war social change. In later life they are part of the largest group of over 60s in British history with unprecedented influence and are widely seen to be ageing differently from their predecessors partly due to their youth experiences. The study had 2 aims. First, to investigate key experiences and transitions to adulthood of young women from different social backgrounds in Britain 1954-76, addressing related spatial mobilities. Youth was defined as 15 to 24 years, bridging the end of compulsory full-time education and the age by which most young women married. Two cohorts were identified: war babies born 1939-45 and baby boomers born 1946-52. Second, to explore the relationship between the youth of these women and their current, later-life experiences and identities.

Tinkler, Penny and McMunn, Anne and Fenton, Laura and Cruz, Resto and Xue, Baowen (2024). Girlhood and Later Life: Girls Growing Up in Britain 1954-1976 and the Implications for Later-Life Experience and Identity, 1939-2020. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-855007