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Secondary analysis of the Millennium Cohort Survey

Posted Tuesday, 15 November 2022 Categories: Research Report

The Millennium Cohort Study is a research project following the lives of children born in the UK in 2000/1 with information collected from the child and their parents on a variety of topics.

The reports are split into five age groups and from 2012 to 2026. The full reports and key findings for can be found below.

Sight impaired at age 23 (2026)

Author: John Slade, Publisher: RNIB

This analysis relates to the eighth MCS wave. This was conducted in 2023 when the participants were 23 years old and was made available on the UK Data Archive in February 2026. It explores life chances and aspirations, and shows that blind and partially sighted people at age 23 face a significant outcome gap compared to non-disabled people of the same age. The findings also indicate that serious psychological distress is widespread among young blind or partially sighted people, and substantially more common than non‑disabled peers.

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Sight impairment at age 17 (2022)

Author: John Slade and Sarah Tipping, Publisher: RNIB

This survey data covers children who have finished compulsory education, and starting to transition into adult life. Whilst there was no difference in terms of future aspirations, there was an emerging gap of reduced wellbeing as reported by children, poorer health and lower employment for young people with a vision impairment.

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Sight impairment at age 14 (2022)

Author: John Slade and Sarah Tipping, Publisher: RNIB

All insights in this report are taken from Millennium Cohort Study interviews with 14-year-olds, conducted in 2014.

The Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is a research project following the lives of children born in the UK in 2000/1 with information collected from the child and their parents on a variety of topics.

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Sight impairment at age 11 (2014)

Author: John Harris, Sue Keil, Chris Lord and Cheryl Lloyd, Publisher: RLSB, RNIB and NatCen

Key findings

  • Children with sight impairment at age eleven are less likely than their peers to feel they are able to do things as well as most other people, to play organised sport or physical activities, to make journeys on foot outside of school on their own or with other children, and more likely to feel tired at school all or most of the time.
  • According to their parents and teachers, they are more likely to be nervous or clingy in new situations, to be bullied or picked on by other children, to often seem worried, and to be not well prepared for the transition to secondary school.
  • They are also more likely to be living in poverty than other children.
  • Children who have another disability in addition to a sight impairment are particularly at risk of emotional difficulties, being socially isolated and doing poorly at school.
  • Children with sight impairment as their only disability are more likely to visit social networking sites than children without sight impairment and were more likely than other children to use their mobile phone to access the internet.
  • Children with sight impairment (with or without additional SEND) were however, just as likely as other children to be happy with their family, with their friends, with their school and with their life overall.

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Sight impairment at age 7 (2012)

Author: John Harris, Sue Keil, Chris Lord and Sally McManus, Publisher: RLSB, RNIB and NatCen

Key findings

  • Children with sight impairment differed across a range of characteristics associated with wellbeing when compared with sighted children of the same age. For example, parents of children with sight impairment were significantly more likely than other parents to say that their child had emotional, concentration or behaviour difficulties; was often unhappy, downhearted or low; and wet the bed at least once a week.
  • For children with sight impairment and another impairment however, the differences were often greater and applied to a greater number of variables. This group in particular, was likely to have less exposure to social and cultural events, have fewer friends and do less physical activity.
  • There were clear differences between children with a sight impairment (with or without an additional impairment) and children with no sight impairment on a number of variables in relation to education, indicating different experiences of school and different levels of attainment between these two groups
  • Children with sight impairment were more likely to be experiencing difficulties with reading and writing than children with no sight impairment. There were also indications that a higher proportion may have been experiencing greater difficulties with maths and science although these differences did not reach statistical significance.
  • For children with sight impairment and another impairment the differences were often greater and applied to a greater number of variables in relation to their experiences of school and learning.
  • Children with sight impairment and another impairment were more likely to dislike school, to not like answering questions in class and to believe that their teacher 'never' thought they were clever. They were more likely to say they were bullied at school all of the time and to never feel safe in the playground. They were more likely to dislike reading, number work, science and PE. This dislike appears to be reflected in parent and teacher assessments of their academic attainment, with children in this group more likely to be experiencing difficulties with reading, writing, maths, science and PE and to be rated by their teachers as below or well below average at these subjects.
  • Children with sight impairment at age 7 (with and without another impairment) were much more likely than children without sight impairment to live in a family experiencing financial hardship.

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