The Millennium Cohort Study: the making of a multi-purpose resource for social science and policy
Open accessAbstract
This paper gives an account of the origins, objectives and structure of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) -some 19,000 individuals born in the UK in 2000-2001 -and its use in a wide range of research on many aspects of their lives in childhood years.We highlight some of the mass of output on the first five surveys to age 11 in 2012.Topics discussed are social inequalities in child development; comparisons with other cohorts; areas not well covered by previous national cohorts: season of birth, fathers, ethnicity and childcare; parental behaviour; intergenerational links; social ecology and differences between and within UK countries.We also discuss the challenges faced by the National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) in drawing controls from the MCS.As the cohort marches to its seventh survey in 2018, and beyond, the potential for research across life course domains will only continue to grow.
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References 68 · Cited by 187
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- Authors
- Joshi, H., & Fitzsimons, E.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Joshi, Heather
- Venue
- Longitudinal and Life Course Studies
- Publisher
- Bristol University Press
- Published
- 2016-10-26
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 4
- ISSN
- 1757-9597 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2543675895
- Cited by
- 187
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 18.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (publishedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Longitudinal and Life Course Studies (Simon Fraser University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Wellcome Trust
- Scottish Government
- National Institutes of Health
- Economic and Social Research Council (ES/M001660/1, ES/K005987/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social Policies and Family
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
- Keywords
- Millennium Cohort Study, birth cohort, child development, social inequality, season of birth, fathers, ethnicity, child care, parental behavior, social ecology, Sure Start, cohort comparison, life course research
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