Millennium Cohort Study (MCS)

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Overview

Aims
The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a national longitudinal birth cohort study following the lives of around 19,000 young people born in the United Kingdom in 2000-01. This multidisciplinary survey aims to capture the influence of early family context on child development and outcomes. Children from minority ethnic backgrounds and children in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland are oversampled to help capture the diversity of backgrounds into which children are born in the beginning of the 21st century.

Institution
Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS) - Institute of Education (IoE), UCL

Geographic coverage - Nations
England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland

Geographic coverage - Regions
Nationwide

Start date
2000

Catalogue record last updated
26/01/2024

Sample

Sample type
Birth cohort

Sample details
Children born between September 2000 and January 2002. The sample was selected from a random sample of electoral wards, disproportionately stratified to ensure adequate representation of all four UK countries, deprived areas and areas with high concentrations of Black and Asian families.
An additional 692 families who were eligible for MCS1 but weren't picked up by the child benefit system were recruited at the age 3 survey.

Sample size at recruitment
18,818 children
18,552 families

Sample size at most recent sweep
10,757 cohort members, 10,625 families (2019 - MCS7)

Sex
All

Age at recruitment
Birth

Cohort year of birth
2000

Data

Data access
UK Data Service
https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/data-access-training/access-ukds/

Genetic data collected

Linkage to administrative data
Education data

HDR UK Innovation Gateway
HDR Gateway

Additional information

Website
cls.ucl.ac.uk/cls-studies/millennium-cohort-study

Notes
Also known as Child of the New Century

Related themes
Covid-19 data collection, Cognitive measures, Diet and nutrition, Education, Ethnicity and race, Sexuality and gender identity, Housing, Socioeconomic status and deprivation, Language and literacy, Loneliness and social isolation, Migration and immigration, Neighbourhood, Physical health assessment, Political and social attitudes, Digital technology and social media, Victimisation and life events, Puberty, Reproductive health, Work and employment, Parenting and family, Sleep problems, Social care - receipt, Social care - provision, Social care - need

Summary
MCS is a national birth cohort study following the lives of around 19,000 young people born in the United Kingdom in 2000-01. The cohort includes children from minority ethnic backgrounds and children in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland to help capture the diversity of children born in Britain. The study aims to capture the influence of early family context on child development and outcomes.

Key Papers

Reference papers
Cohort Profile: UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS).
doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyu001

The Millennium Cohort Study: the making of a multi-purpose resource for social science and policy.
doi.org/10.14301/llcs.v7i4.410

Impactful papers using study data
The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0506-1

Economic deprivation, maternal depression, parenting and children's cognitive and emotional development in early childhood. doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2008.00219.x

Correlates of mental illness and wellbeing in children: Are they the same? Results from the UK Millennium Cohort Study. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.05.019

Funders
Economic and Social Research Council
Department for Education
Department of Health and Social Care
Department for Work and Pensions
Department for Transport
Home Office
Ministry of Justice
Northern Ireland Executive
Scottish Government
Welsh Assembly Government
ONS
Wellcome Trust
US Department of Health and Human Services
National Institutes of Health

Sir Siegmund Warburg Voluntary Settlement
International Centre for Child Studies
Mental health measures timeline

Sweep name:

Cohort member age:

Data collection period:

Notes:

Physical health measures:

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