Learn more about the measures of domestic activity across selected CLOSER studies
For background detail on this domain of physical activity, click here.
Domestic activities were measured across ages 16y to 60-64y with data collected in the BCS70, NCDS, and NSHD studies (see the table below). A range of activities were included in the questions across this domain such as housework, shopping, cleaning, and building work. However, gardening and do-it-yourself (DIY) was the activity which appeared most frequently.
While there was limited overlap across studies at similar ages, NSHD 43y and NCDS 44y ask questions regarding domestic activities (NSHD: (1) “Do you regularly do any heavy gardening apart from paid work?” (2) “Do you regularly do any heavy building or DIY apart from paid work?”; NCDS: “How often on average, did you do this last year?”). Both measures identify to gardening or building/DIY activities, and include similar responses categories capturing duration (minutes; hours) and frequency (monthly/weekly).
Study | Age | Variable name(s) | Question wording | Response scale(s) | Included activities | Timespan of recall |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16 | BCS70 | f18 | "Do you help at home (e.g. housework/ gardening)" | never, sometimes, most days, everyday | housework/gardening | not specified |
16 | BCS70 | gb12_1 - gb12_12 | "What kind of things do you help with at home" | never, sometimes, rarely, regularly | shopping, washing up, cleaning the house, making the beds, cooking, looking after elderly relatives / pets / younger children, washing, gardening, cleaning car, DIY | not specified |
19 | MCS | CW1_Timeuse1_6_1 | "How many hours have you been spending doing each of the following activities on a typical weekday since the Coronavirus outbreak began?" | number of hours rounded to nearest hour | housework (e.g., cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY) | typical weekday during the time specified in question |
19 | MCS | CW2_Timeuse_6 | "How many hours have you been spending doing each of the following activities on a typical weekday in the last two weeks?" | number of hours rounded to nearest hour or half hour | housework (e.g., cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY) | past 2 weeks |
36 | NSHD | BRCKN82 BRCKH82 - APPLN82 APPLH82 | "Have you done any of the DIY things in the past 4 weeks?" | hours/month; occurrences/month | building work (various activities listed) | past 4 weeks |
36 | NSHD | RUFGN82 RUFGH82 - HOEN82 HOEH82 | "Have you done any of these things in the garden in the last 4 weeks?" | hours/month; occurrences/month | gardening (various activities listed) | past 4 weeks |
43 | NSHD | HWK89 - HWKSW89 | "Do you regularly do any vigorous household work or cleaning apart from paid work, how often?" | minutes, hours; < monthly, < 1x weekly, 1x weekly, > 1x weekly | housework | not specified |
43 | NSHD | GDN89 - GDNSW89 | "Do you regularly do any heavy gardening apart from paid work?" | minutes, hours; < monthly, < 1x weekly, 1x weekly, > 1x weekly | gardening | not specified |
43 | NSHD | DIY89 - DIYSW89 | "Do you regularly do any heavy building or DIY apart from paid work?" | minutes, hours; < monthly, < 1x weekly, 1x weekly, > 1x weekly | building/ DIY | not specified |
44 | NCDS | lawnmo - diym | "How often on average, did you do this last year?" | minutes, hours; none, <1x monthly, 1x month; 2-3x monthly, 1x week, 2-3x a weekly, 4-5x a weekly, daily | mowing the lawn; watering the lawn or garden in the summer; digging, shovelling or chopping wood; weeding or pruning ; DIY (e.g. “carpentry, home or car maintenance”) | not specified |
46 | BCS70 | B10Q17A B10Q17B B10Q17D B10Q17E | "Activities in and around the home" | None, less than 1 hour a week, 1 to 3 hours a week 3 to 6 hours a week 6 to 10 hours a week 10 to 15 hours a week More than 15 hours a week | Preparing food, cooking, and washing up, Shopping for food and groceries, Shopping and browsing in shops for other items (e.g., clothes, toys), Cleaning the house, Doing the laundry and ironing | average week |
46 | BCS70 | B10Q25G- B10Q25KM | "The following questions ask about how you have spent your leisure time." | None, less than once a month, once a month, 2-3 times a month, once a week, 2-3 times a week, 4-6 times a week, 6 times a week or more AND the average length of time you spent doing the activity on each occasion. | Mowing the lawn - during the grass cutting season, Watering the lawn or garden in the summer, Digging, shovelling or chopping wood, Weeding or pruning, DIY e.g. carpentry, home or car maintenance | average week |
50 | NCDS | N8SCQ1G N8SCQ1H | "How frequently you do each one...a)Work in the garden; b)Do DIY, home maintenance or car repairs..." | never, 1x year, several times a year, monthly, weekly | gardening/DIY | past 12 months |
50 | BCS70 | CW1_Timeuse1_6_1 | "How many hours have you been spending doing each of the following activities on a typical weekday since the Coronavirus outbreak began?" | Number of hours rounded to nearest hour | Housework (e.g., cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY) | Typical weekday during the time specified in question |
50 | BCS70 | CW2_Timeuse_6 | "How many hours have you been spending doing each of the following activities on a typical weekday in the last two weeks?" | Number of hours rounded to nearest hour or half hour | Housework (e.g., cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY), | past 2 weeks |
62 | NCDS | CW1_Timeuse1_6_1 | "How many hours have you been spending doing each of the following activities on a typical weekday since the Coronavirus outbreak began?" | Number of hours rounded to nearest hour | Housework (e.g., cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY) | typical weekday during the time specified in question |
62 | NCDS | CW2_Timeuse_6 | "How many hours have you been spending doing each of the following activities on a typical weekday in the last two weeks?" | Number of hours rounded to nearest hour or half hour | Housework (e.g., cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY) | past 2 weeks |
74 | NSHD | CW1_Timeuse1_6_1 | "How many hours have you been spending doing each of the following activities on a typical weekday since the Coronavirus outbreak began?" | Number of hours rounded to nearest hour | Housework (e.g., cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY) | typical weekday during the time specified in question |
74 | NSHD | CW2_Timeuse_6 | "How many hours have you been spending doing each of the following activities on a typical weekday in the last two weeks?" | Number of hours rounded to nearest hour or half hour | Housework (e.g., cleaning, laundry, cooking, DIY) | past 2 weeks |
Note. For the named items in the table above, links are provided (where applicable) to their corresponding content on CLOSER Discovery. Where a variable range is provided, full variable lists can be accessed through the ‘Variable Groups’ tab on the linked Discovery page.
Explore the other domains of physical activity & the comparability of measurements across studies:
- Summary of cross-study comparisons
- Leisure time physical activity
- Occupational activity
- Active travel
- Sedentary behaviour
Learn more about the studies covered by this guide and their measurement of physical activity:
- 1946 National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD)
- 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS)
- 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70)
- Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)
- Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)
- Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS)
Further information:
- Acknowledgements and copyright information for this guide
- References for this guide
- Download the full guide as a PDF
- Electronic appendix: Index of all documented measures
This page is part of the CLOSER resource: ‘Physical activity across age and study: a guide to data in six CLOSER studies’.