Table 1

Characteristics of the complete case study population by level of maternal education at birth of child (N=6509)

	Degree plus	Diploma	A levels	GCSE A–C	GCSE D–G	None	Total	P value
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Adolescents socioemotional behavioural problems at age 14	3.1	7.0	5.9	9.7	14.3	14.4	8.9	<0.001
Child’s sex								0.701
Male	50.2	51.2	46.2	50.2	48.3	47.9	49.6
Maternal age at MCS birth								<0.001
14–24 years	26.5	41.5	47.5	52.6	71.4	61.3	47
Maternal ethnicity								<0.001
Mixed	0.8	0.6	0	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.5
Indian	2.0	1.4	1.2	0.9	1.4	2.0	1.4
Pakistani	0.9	0.9	1.6	1.5	1.4	4.3	1.6
Bangladeshi	0.1	0.4	0.3	0.2	0.4	1.0	0.3
Black	2.4	2.3	0.5	0.6	1.5	0.8	1.2
Other	1.4	0.7	1.0	0.3	0.1	1.0	0.7
Smoking in pregnancy								<0.001
Yes	3.4	9.9	11.1	20.9	33.7	46.3	¹⁷.7
Alcohol consumption in pregnancy								<0.001
Any unit per week	65.3	51.6	46	40.3	30.1	26.3	46.1
Gestational age at birth								0.007
Preterm	4.6	5.8	3.4	5.9	5.8	6.7	5.4
Child’s birth weight								<0.001
Low weight	3.6	5.4	4.7	5.5	6.4	8.9	5.3
Breast feeding at least 4 months								<0.001
No	35.7	59.7	58.1	73.1	82.1	84.2	62.8
Cognitive disability at age 3								<0.001
Yes	1.5	2.3	2.3	4	5.7	11.1	3.8
School readiness at age 3								<0.001
Very delayed or delayed	3.4	3.9	4.9	8.6	14.6	20.3	7.9
Child’s long-term disabilities or illness at age 3								0.063
Yes	14.3	14.8	11.3	15.4	16.3	19.4	15
Maternal mental health problems								<0.001
Yes	10.9	12.7	13.5	18.4	18.4	29.4	16.3
Parenting style								<0.001
Negligent or harsh parenting style	40.1	43.7	45.4	52.1	58	62.6	49
Child–parents conflict relationship								0.001
High conflicts	52.5	52.5	52.2	52.3	54.5	63.5	53.5
Lone parenthood								<0.001
Yes	1.7	4.4	8	12.5	16.3	23.8	9.8
Child’s time spent with friends								0.027
Not at all	0.6	0	1.5	0.6	0.6	1.3	0.7
Being bullied								<0.001
Some true or certainly true	4.3	3.9	5.7	6.5	10.5	13.4	6.5
Fights or bullies’ other peers								<0.001
Some true or certainly true	9.3	10.7	11.6	14.4	21.6	30.4	15.9
Neighbourhood conditions								<0.001
Fairly common or very common neighbourhood problems	50	55.9	56.3	60.2	70.8	72.6	58.9
Neighbourhood safety								<0.001
Fairly safe	5.1	6.7	9.5	14.5	18.1	23.6	13

Reference categories were omitted. Full table annexed in online supplementary material S6.
*online supplementary material S6
MCS, Millennium Cohort Study.