Back to PADS+

PADS+ collects data covering three main topics:

• Individuals
  
  PADS+ is interested in how different individual characteristics and social experiences affect young people's social behaviour. Individual-level data is collected through interviewer-led questionnaires and psychometric exercises.

• Environments
  
  PADS+ is interested in how the characteristics of different small-area environments of Peterborough affect the social activities which take place in different parts of the city. Environmental-level data is collected through interviewer-led questionnaires and the community survey.

• Exposure
  
  PADS+ is interested in how exposure to different environments in Peterborough affects different young people’s social activities. Data on exposure is collected using a space-time budget.

When combined, this data allow PADS+ researchers to study the interaction between participants’ individual characteristics and experiences and their exposure to different kinds of environments (both cross-sectionally and longitudinally) in a way no other existing study can. As a consequence, PADS+ is unique in its ability to address:

• Differences in social behaviour which relate to the interaction between participants’ individual characteristics and experiences and their exposure to different kinds of environments and settings
  
  

• Changes in social behaviour which relate to changes in participants’ exposure to certain types of environments and their own personal development
  

Data was collected in the spring of each year from 2003 to 2008. 2009 represented a unique epoch as it was the first full year since the start of Phase 1 in 2002 which did not include a full data collection sweep. The move from annual to biennial data collection prompted a ‘mini-sweep’ to keep up-to-date with participants’ contact details. Sweep 6th was carried out in 2010 and one additional data wave is scheduled in early 2012.

In 2005, the Peterborough Community Survey (PCS) collected detailed social-environmental data on geographical areas covering Peterborough and several surrounding villages.

The Peterborough Community Survey page is under construction. Check back soon for more information on this element of PADS+!

PADS+ is the only existing longitudinal study into crime and its development which combines an in-depth treatment of individual characteristics and experiences with an in-depth treatment of the social environments in which young people develop and act. Although several existing longitudinal studies collect data about the neighbourhoods in which individuals live, there is no comparable criminological longitudinal study which has collected such detailed data about individuals’ exposure to different social environments (within and outside of their neighbourhoods), or about the particular social settings within those environments in which those individuals actually take part.