Our briefings and impact library includes summaries of our research findings as well as reports highlighting the impact of our cohort studies.
This report shows overall prevalences of engagement in risky behaviours, alongside breakdowns by sex, by parental educational level, and by UK country. In terms of sample characteristics, 50% were females, 36% had parents with a university degree or above, 13% were of ethnic minority origin, and the UK nations were represented by England (84%), Wales (5%), Scotland (8%) and Northern Ireland (3%). Analyses are adjusted for survey design and attrition, so figures are nationally representative estimates of risky behaviours among young people born in the UK around the turn of the millennium.
What are the socioeconomic and psychosocial resources available to female care-leavers who became mothers? It is well documented that the experience of out-of-home care can lead to more problematic post-16 transitions and poorer adult outcomes. This new research examines the experiences of care-leavers who become mothers.
This report summarises research from a study funded by the Nuffield Foundation entitled ‘First in Family’: higher education choices and labour market outcomes’. The project examines how ‘first in family’ students, those whose parents do not have a degree but who go on to achieve one themselves, navigate the higher education system and the labour market compared to their peers.
This briefing paper compares results across two generations of British children born 30 years apart – participants in the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70) and in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) – to examine how health and behavioural problems in early childhood can cast a long shadow on a wide range of outcomes over the lifecourse.
This report shows the overall prevalence of weapon carrying and use at age 17 and its co-occurrence with other types of offences. Various prior factors are examined in terms of their association with carrying or using a weapon, including individual characteristics, socioeconomic background, family environment, mental health, school and peer factors, and prior behaviours and experiences.
This is the appendix to Obesity prevalence and its inequality from childhood to adolescence – Initial findings from the Millennium Cohort Study Age 17 Survey (above).
This report focuses on excess weight at age 17 in the Millennium Cohort Study, presenting prevalence of obesity, overweight, normal weight and underweight. Examining also previous measures collected from the cohort since age 3, it highlights stark inequalities by family socioeconomic circumstances. It underlines the strong persistence of excess weight throughout childhood and adolescence, with one third of a whole generation either overweight or obese as they enter their prime adult years.
The prevalence of COVID-19 in the community following the onset of the UK epidemic is unknown, and there are likely to be many predisposing factors which affect exposure to, or severity of, the disease. Clarity on these issues will help to inform public health strategies directed at virus suppression or elimination, and/or risk stratification measures tailored for different members of society. Here, we provide self-reported cohort-specific estimates of COVID-19 prevalence, symptoms and testing, along with estimates stratified by a range of traits. These estimates benefit from weighting for non-response using information from past data collections.
This report focuses on mental ill-health at age 17, using data collected from participants in the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) in 2018-19. It presents prevalence of psychological distress, self-harm and attempted suicide. It describes important mental health inequalities across the following key socio-demographic characteristics: sex, ethnicity, sexuality and socioeconomic position. Combined with data collected from a subset of participants during the COVID-19 national lockdown in May 2020, when they were aged 19, the report also presents evidence on changes in psychological distress from ages 17 to 19.
This exploratory study provides descriptive evidence on household composition, couples’ relationship quality, and social support during the May 2020 national lockdown in the UK. Specifically, it examines changes in living arrangements, conflicts with people, and relationship satisfaction and conflict among couples. It also considers changes in social connections, emotional support, and practical help among participants.
Our survey’s open-ended question gave respondents the opportunity to describe their experience of the pandemic in their own words. We received just under 11,000 open text responses across the five generations of our study, and these responses provide an important complement to the more structured survey data by providing direct reports of study members’ lived experiences of the coronavirus outbreak; these responses can thus be seen as a ‘time capsule’ of those experiences.
This study focuses on trust in government, trust in others and compliance with the Government’s social distancing guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic.