Research Report: Out of School Activities - Understanding Who Does What

Authors Jenny Chanfreau, Emily Tanner, Meg Callanan, Karen Laing, Jonathan Paylor, Amy Skipp and Liz Todd, NatCen Social Research, Newcastle University and ASK Research

Published by NatCen and Newcastle University

SUMMARY

Researchers at NatCen Social Research and Newcastle University are taking part in a 15-month study programme investigating out-of-school activities, funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The researchers analysed data from the Millennium Cohort Study, which follows the lives of 19,000 children born in 2000 and 2001, and divided children into six different clusters.

The largest group was identified as "self-directed social" with 30 per cent of children in this cluster. These children spent more unstructured time with their friends and had more screen time than other children. They almost all took part in at least one organised after-school activity while at primary school, but they were least likely to take part in multiple activities out of all the groups and less likely to take part in sports activities. Children in this group were more likely to live in an urban area and a high proportion came from a disadvantaged background, with almost half living in low-income households. Children were also more likely to come from a single-parent family and have a long-term disability or illness.