MCS Age 14 Sweep

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Sweep details Initial findings at age 14 Special features at age 14 Documentation More related content

Sweep details

Dates January 2015 to March 2016
Age 14
Achieved sample 11,872 (cohort members); 11,726 (families)
Respondents Cohort members, parents
Fieldwork agency Ipsos MORI
Survey mode Face to face
Data access

Main dataset available via the UK Data Service [SN 8156]. Visit the UK Data Service website to access the data
Description

The Age 14 Sweep was the first time cohort members were involved as teenagers. There was extensive direct engagement of cohort members, alongside continued participation of parents.

Interviewers visited the cohort members’ homes and conducted face-to-face interviews with both resident parents. Topics covered included family composition, parental health, employment and income, housing, parenting attitudes and activities, alongside the cohort member’s physical and mental health, behaviour, and schooling.

More sensitive questions to parents, relating to quality of relationship with partner and cohort member, alcohol consumption and drug use, and depression and anxiety, were administered through self-completion. Parents also completed a cognitive task for the first time – a Word Activity – to measure knowledge of vocabulary (like cohort members, see below).

Cohort members did a self-completion questionnaire on the interviewer’s tablet. It covered areas such as school, relationships, daily activities, mental and physical health, wellbeing, aspirations and the future, identity and attitudes, alongside age-appropriate questions on more sensitive topics such as risky behaviours, including alcohol, smoking and drugs; antisocial and criminal activities and contact with the police; puberty, romantic relationships and sexual behaviour.

Cohort members completed two cognitive assessments: the Cambridge Gambling Task (from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery [CANTAB] developed by Cambridge Cognition) and a Word Activity that measured knowledge of vocabulary.

Measurements of height, weight and body fat were taken from cohort members at this sweep.

All cohort members in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and a random sample of 81 per cent of cohort members in England wore a wrist activity monitor for two randomly selected days (one week day and one weekend day). On the same days, these cohort members completed a time use diary covering all of their activities over a 24-hour period. This could be completed online, using an app or, as a last resort, on paper.

Cohort members and their resident natural parents provided saliva samples for the purpose of DNA extraction and genotyping.

Initial findings at age 14

Read our initial findings from the age 14 sweep. These cover a range of issues relevant to young people’s lives today, from mental health to obesity and risky activities.

Initial findings from the Age 14 Sweep

Special features at age 14

Parental cognitive assessment

A proxy for parental cognitive ability was measured directly for the first time. This will facilitate further the investigation of the inter-generational transmission of cognitive ability using an objective measurement.

A word activity assessment – measuring knowledge of vocabulary – was completed by cohort members and their resident parents. The assessment followed the same format for all three respondent types, though the vocabulary differed across the three. A similar assessment was included in 1970 British Cohort Study at ages 16 and 42, thereby facilitating cross-cohort comparisons.

Objective measurement of physical activity

Cohort members wore an activity monitor for two randomly selected days (one weekday and one weekend day) after the home visit. This provided an objective measurement of all of their physical activity over two 24-hour periods. The data were collected using a wrist-worn activity monitor (accelerometer) called Actigraph. The data can also be used alongside self-reported time-use diary data collected over the same period.

Time-use diary data

Cohort members completed a time-use diary for two randomly selected days (one weekday and one weekend day) after the home visit. This covered all of their activities over two 24-hour periods, as well as who they were with, where they were and how they were feeling.

The data were collected using a concurrent mixed-mode approach: online, using an app or on paper. MCS is the first national study to collect time-use diary data in this way. The data can be analysed alongside objectively measured physical activity data collected over the same period using an activity monitor (accelerometer).

Saliva sample for DNA extraction

Cohort members and their resident natural parents provided a saliva sample for DNA extraction and genotyping. Samples were collected using an Oragene DNA kit. This is the first time a triad of DNA samples has been collected from two biological parents and their child in a large scale national study.

The DNA extractions will be genotyped in order to allow analysis of different genes and their relationship with areas such as health and wellbeing, growth and behaviour. Genotypes from the data will be available via an independent Access Committee.

Documentation

  • User guides
  • Questionnaires
  • Technical reports
  • Data notes
  • Additional
User guides

MCS Age 14 Physical Activity: Accelerometer dataset

This user guide accompanies the deposit of the Millennium Cohort Study’s physical activity data.

Date published: 16/05/2023
PDF: 164,03 KB

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User guide to the MCS linked health administrative datasets – Scottish Medical Records (SMR)

This user guide describes the linkage of medical records, child health reviews and prescription and immunisation records in Scotland (henceforth “Scottish Medical Records”) to cohort members’ data in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

Date published: 15/02/2021
PDF: 313,94 KB

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MCS User Guide to the Linked Education Administrative Datasets

This user guide accompanies the datasets linking education data to the records of MCS participants based in England.

Version 3 (November 2024)

Date published: 25/11/2024
PDF: 990,4 KB

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MCS Age 14 User guide

User guide for the sixth sweep of the Millennium Cohort Study.

Date published: 02/09/2020
PDF: 1,31 MB

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Longitudinal Family File Guide

This guide provides information about the mcs_longitudinal_family_file which is an important dataset of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).

Date published: 02/09/2020
PDF: 166,27 KB

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MCS Data Handling Guide

The Data Handling guide explains the data structures of MCS and provides solutions with different data handling strategies.

Date published: 02/09/2020
PDF: 1,14 MB

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MCS Age 14 Physical Activity: Time Use Diary harmonised data set

This user guide accompanies the deposit of the Millennium Cohort Study’s time use data.

Date published: 01/03/2018
PDF: 370,34 KB

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MCS Age 14 Guide to derived variables

Guide to the derived variables for the sixth sweep of the Millennium Cohort Study.

Date published: 28/03/2017
PDF: 217,25 KB

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Handling missing data in the CLS cohort studies – User Guide

This user guide aims to describe and illustrate a straightforward approach to missing data handling, while detailing some more general considerations around missing data along the way.

Date published: 03/06/2024
PDF: 1000,62 KB

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Questionnaires

MCS Age 14 Young Person Questionnaire

Young person questionnaire for MCS 6.

Date published: 12/09/2016
PDF: 870,73 KB

Download

MCS6 Age 14 Survey SDQ

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for MCS6.

Date published: 11/09/2016
PDF: 222,64 KB

Download

MCS Age 14 Parent Questionnaire

Parent questionnaire for MCS 6.

Date published: 10/09/2016
PDF: 2,18 MB

Download

MCS Age 14 Activity Monitor, Time Use and Physical Measurement

This document contains the part of the questionnaire that collected data from the cohort members on Physical measurement, the administration of the activity monitor and time-use diary.

Date published: 01/02/2017
PDF: 615,58 KB

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Technical reports

MCS Age 14 Technical Report

Technical report for the sixth sweep of the Millennium Cohort Study.

Date published: 01/02/2017
PDF: 1,25 MB

Download

MCS Age 14 Technical Report Appendix A

Appendix A of the MCS Age 14 Technical Report

Date published: 02/09/2016
PDF: 19,2 MB

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MCS Age 14 Technical Report Appendix B

Appendix B of the MCS Age 14 Technical Report

Date published: 03/09/2016
PDF: 12,67 MB

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MCS Age 14 Technical Report Appendix C

Appendix C of the MCS Age 14 Technical Report

Date published: 04/09/2016
PDF: 34,75 MB

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MCS Age 14 Technical Report Appendix D

Appendix D of the MCS Age 14 Technical Report

Date published: 05/09/2016
PDF: 471,88 KB

Download
Data notes

No material of this type is available.

Additional

Developing youth engagement in the Millennium Cohort Study and Understanding Society

This report presents feedback from the Young Research Advisor group on approaches to engaging young people in MCS and Understanding Society.

Authors: National Children’s Bureau
Date published: 02/09/2013
PDF: 2,35 MB

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MCS Age 14 Participant engagement research – National Children’s Bureau

This report presents findings from research with MCS members and their parents. It was carried out by NCB as part of a broader study of participant engagement being conducted in partnership with Ipsos MORI for the CLS.

Authors: Emma Wallace, Jennifer Gibb and Vanessa Greene with Puja Joshi
Date published: 02/09/2013
PDF: 2,18 MB

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MCS Age 14 Time-use Diary Documentation

This document describes the time-use diary instruments and placement protocols used in the sixth wave of the Millennium Cohort Study.

Date published: 01/09/2016
PDF: 4,71 MB

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MCS Age 14 and Understanding Society: Participant Engagement Research

This report presents findings from research that Ipsos MORI carried out with young people aged 10-15 to inform participant engagement approaches on the Age 14 Survey of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and the youth panel of Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study

Date published: 01/09/2013
PDF: 1,67 MB

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MCS Ethical Review and Consent

This note reports on the approach adopted to ethical review and informed consent for the various stages of the Millennium Cohort Study.

Date published: 01/02/2019
PDF: 7,98 MB

Download

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