External Publications Using GUI Data
Authors | Year | Title ↑ | Link | Journal/Book | Abstract |
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Smyth, E., Darmody, M. | 2021 | Risk and protective factors in adolescent behaviour: The role of family, school and neighbourhood characteristics in (mis)behaviour among young people | Open | ESRI Research Series 119 | |
This report uses data collected on Cohort ’98 of the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study at 9, 13 and 171 years of age to examine the individual, family, peer, school and neighbourhood factors associated with adolescent behaviour patterns. The study adopts a multidimensional approach and draws on multiple informants, looking at six types of behaviour. Externalising behaviour relates to conduct (‘acting out’) and concentration difficulties. Internalising behaviour relates to negativity directed towards the self (i.e. mood or emotional difficulties) and difficulties interacting with peers, while prosocial behaviour is an indicator of positive development, reflecting positive interaction with others. All three are measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), are based on reports from the primary caregiver (usually, the mother2) and are therefore likely to capture behaviour within the family or home context. Behaviour at school is captured using information on school-based misbehaviour (such as ‘messing’ in class) and on truancy, reported by the young person themselves. Antisocial behaviour, also based on the young person’s report, reflects behaviour in the wider community (such as graffiti or damaging property). The study addresses the following research questions: 1. What patterns of (mis)behaviour are found among young people at 9, 13 and 17 years of age? To what extent do these patterns relate to differences in family resources, namely, social class, parental education and household income? 2. To what extent does adolescent behaviour reflect the social mix of the school, over and above the effects of individual family background (including parental education, income and social class)? 3. To what extent does adolescent behaviour reflect the social composition of the neighbourhood, over and above the effects of individual family background? 4. What family, peer, school and neighbourhood factors help to reduce the incidence of behaviour difficulties among young people? | |||||
McCoy, S., Banks, J., Shevlin, M. | 2012 | School matters: How context influences the identification of different types of special educational needs | Open | Irish Educational Studies | |
Despite dramatic changes in Irish special education policy during the last decade, there is little understanding of the factors influencing how special educational needs (SEN) are identified and whether identification varies across different school contexts. International research has tended to focus on how individual child characteristics influence SEN identification. Less attention has been given to other factors such as teacher characteristics or school social mix. Using data from the nine-year-old cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland study, this article examines which children are most likely to be identified with different SEN types taking into account student social background characteristics, teacher characteristics and school social mix. Findings show that children attending highly disadvantaged school contexts are far more likely to be identified with behavioural problems and less likely to be identified with learning disabilities than children with similar characteristics attending other schools. It seems that ‘behavioural’ issues take precedence over learning difficulties in these schools pointing to a culture of care/containment rather than academic progress. Keywords | |||||
Darmody, M., Smyth, E., McCoy, S. | 2012 | School Sector Variation among Primary Schools in Ireland. | Open | ESRI / Educate Together | |
Lane, A., Harrison, M., Murphy, N. | 2014 | Screen time increases risk of overweight and obesity in active and inactive 9 year old Irish children: a cross sectional analysis | Open | Journal of Physical Activity and Health | |
Background Purpose Methods Results Conclusion | |||||
Egan, S., Beatty, C. | 2020 | Screen-Time and Non-Verbal Reasoning in Early Childhood: Evidence from the Growing Up in Ireland Study | Open | Children's Research Digest | |
With screen use becoming more prevalent at a younger age, it is important to research the possible impact screen use has on early cognitive development. The current study examines the screen use of 9001 5-year-olds and their reasoning abilities, using data from the Growing Up in Ireland study. Results show that both the amount of daily screen time, along with the type of screen activity children mostly engage in (video games, educational games, TV/video watching, or a mix of all of these activities), have an impact on 5-year-olds’ reasoning ability. Children who mostly engaged in a mix of activities for under three hours a day scored higher on a reasoning ability task than those who engaged in more than three hours of screen time, or those who engaged in an individual screen activity (e.g., television watching) rather than a mix of activities. However, the results also show screen use plays a very minor role in the development of reasoning ability. Consequently, other factors (e.g., home learning environment, parental education levels) should also be investigated when examining the role of screen use in cognitive development. The implications of these findings may therefore be of interest to parent, educators and policy-makers. | |||||
Orben, A., Przybylski, A.K. | 2019 | Screens, teens, and psychological well-being: Evidence from three time-use-diary studies | Open | Psychological Science | |
The notion that digital-screen engagement decreases adolescent well-being has become a recurring feature in public, political, and scientific conversation. The current level of psychological evidence, however, is far removed from the certainty voiced by many commentators. There is little clear-cut evidence that screen time decreases adolescent well-being, and most psychological results are based on single-country, exploratory studies that rely on inaccurate but popular self-report measures of digital-screen engagement. In this study, which encompassed three nationally representative large-scale data sets from Ireland, the United States, and the United Kingdom (N = 17,247 after data exclusions) and included time-use-diary measures of digital-screen engagement, we used both exploratory and confirmatory study designs to introduce methodological and analytical improvements to a growing psychological research area. We found little evidence for substantial negative associations between digital-screen engagement—measured throughout the day or particularly before bedtime—and adolescent well-being. | |||||
McCoy, S., Shevlin, M., Rose, R. | 2019 | Secondary school transition for students with special educational needs in Ireland | Open | European Journal of Special Needs Education | |
The transition from primary to secondary school represents one of the key junctions in the educational career of young people. Research has shown that much of the challenge in this transition stems from changing social structures and encountering different learning environments. However, the transition experiences of students with special educational needs (SEN) have received relatively little attention. Drawing on large-scale longitudinal data from over 7000 young people, we examine the extent to which students with different SEN experience additional transition barriers to their peers. The findings show that young people with SEN are more likely to experience a negative transition to secondary school. Furthermore, the type of need matters and students with general learning disabilities and intellectual disabilities are three times more likely to experience poor transition compared to young people without SEN. Transition experiences also vary by gender and socio-economic status, with girls and lower socio-economic groups more at risk. This paper highlights the importance of supporting students through to their second year in secondary education, promoting positive teacher–student interactions and providing additional supports for those with lower achievement in primary school. For students with disabilities, the research highlights a need for more effective transition supports, particularly during the pre-transition period. Keywords | |||||
Corrigan, O. | 2013 | See how they grow: Solo and unmarried-cohabitant parenthood and crisis pregnancy in Ireland. An analysis of the Growing Up in Ireland 9-month old infant cohort data | Open | Treoir Report | |
Nolan, A., Smyth, E. | 2024 | Sexual health literacy and sexual health behaviours among young adults in Ireland | Open | ESRI Research Series 200 | |
Adolescence and young adulthood are critical periods in the development of healthy sexual health and relationships, as patterns of behaviour that develop during these life stages shape outcomes throughout the life course. Recent rises in notifications of certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young people in Ireland have raised concerns over the extent to which young people have the skills and information to make healthy choices in relation to their sexual health and wellbeing. In this context, sexual health literacy – i.e., the degree to which individuals have the ability to find, understand and use information and services to inform decisions and actions – is a key protective factor for the prevention of negative sexual health outcomes and for allowing young people to be more in control of their own sexual and reproductive health. In this report, we used data from Cohort ’98 of Growing Up in Ireland, the national longitudinal study of children and young people in Ireland, to examine the factors associated with sexual health literacy among young adults, and how sexual health literacy is associated with sexual health behaviours (i.e., condom and contraception use). The Growing Up in Ireland data on sexual health literacy were collected in 2018 when the young people were 20 years of age, and the measure of sexual health literacy was based on answers to two questions that gauged knowledge of female fertility and STI prevention methods. | |||||
McCoy, S., Byrne, D. | 2022 | Shadow Education uptake among final year students in Irish secondary schools: Wellbeing in a high stakes context | Open | ESRI Working Paper 724 | |
This paper assesses the role of shadow education (SE), i.e. organised learning activities outside formal schooling, in the lives of secondary school students of different social backgrounds and in different school settings, in a high-stakes context. It draws on multilevel analysis of longitudinal Growing Up in Ireland data, alongside narratives from in-depth case study research in 10 schools. Framed within a social reproduction approach, we show how access to SE as an educational resource is socially stratified, accessible to those with greater levels of family resources, and those attending schools with higher socio-economic student intakes. SE is viewed as an investment, particularly among students with average and above average levels of prior attainment, while high attaining students are less likely to use SE. Perhaps reflecting the normalisation of SE in the Irish context, students do not directly link engagement in such tuition to their socio-emotional wellbeing. | |||||
McCoy, S., Byrne, D. | 2024 | Shadow Education Uptake in Ireland: Inequalities and Wellbeing in a High-Stakes Context | Open | British Journal of Educational Studies | |
This paper assesses the role of shadow education (SE), i.e., organised learning activities outside formal schooling, in the lives of secondary school students of different social backgrounds and in different school settings, in a high-stakes context. It draws on multilevel analysis of longitudinal Growing Up in Ireland data, alongside narratives from in-depth case study research in 10 schools. Framed within a social reproduction approach, we show how access to SE as an educational resource is socially stratified, accessible to those with greater levels of family resources, and those attending schools with higher socio-economic student intakes. SE is viewed as an investment, particularly among students with average and above average levels of prior attainment, while high attaining students are less likely to use SE. Perhaps reflecting the normalisation of SE in the Irish context, students do not directly link engagement in such tuition to their socio-emotional wellbeing. | |||||
Smyth, E. | 2018 | Shaping educational expectations: the perspectives of 13-year-olds and their parents | Open | Educational Review | |
Educational expectations and the way in which they shape actual outcomes act as an important vehicle for the intergenerational reproduction of social inequality. This article draws on rich information from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study to explore the factors influencing the educational expectations of 13-year-old young people and their parents. The findings point to high levels of expectations among parents but one-third of young people are found to hold lower expectations than their parents. Both sets of expectations are shaped by parental education, social class and household income, though parental expectations are more strongly structured by social background than those of young people. The article seeks to contribute to the literature on educational expectations in three interrelated ways. Firstly, it focuses on a phase of schooling, the transition to secondary education, which represents a time of significant change in young people’s learning experiences, and transition difficulties are found to dampen their expectations. Secondly, the analyses unpack the extent to which signals from the school influence parental perspectives, with academic achievement, child attitudes to maths, ability group assignment and teacher reprimands emerging as significant drivers of parental views of their children’s potential. Thirdly, the analyses take account of both the primary and secondary school attended and indicate significant between-school differences in young people’s intentions to go on to higher education. Keywords | |||||
McCoy, S., Banks, J. | 2012 | Simply Academic? Why children with special educational needs don't like school. | Open | European Journal of Special Needs Education | |
International studies have raised concerns about the academic and social implications of inclusive policies on school engagement and successful learning and, in particular, on the ways in which friendships are formed between students with SEN and other students. This article stems from research findings which show that Irish children with special educational needs like school less than their peers without SEN in mainstream settings. Using data from a large scale longitudinal study of 8578 9-year-olds, this paper uses a child centred research approach to investigate why this is the case particularly when they are in receipt of supports. To do this, we focus on processes underlying their dislike of school such as their academic engagement and social/peer relations. We measure academic engagement by looking at their interest in the subjects mathematics and reading and the extent to which they complete their homework. We examine the social/peer relations of students with special educational needs by assessing the extent to which they report liking their teacher. Using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) Scale and the Piers-Harris Self-Concept Scale we also examine the nature of peer relations among children with special educational needs in mainstream settings. Both academic engagement and social engagement play a central role in understanding the broader school engagement of children with special educational needs. By simultaneously examining the role of academic and social relations in shaping the engagement of children with SEN, the analysis provides a unique opportunity to fundamentally assess the barriers to true inclusion for children with special needs. Keywords | |||||
Layte, R., Bennett, A., McCrory, C., Kearney, J.M. | 2014 | Social class variation in the predictors of rapid growth in infancy and obesity at age three years. | Open | International Journal of Obesity | |
Objective Design Subjects Results Conclusion | |||||
Pietropoli, I., Gracia, P. | 2025 | Social inequalities in children’s cognitive and socioemotional development: The role of home learning environments and early childhood education | Open | Research in Social Stratification and Mobility | |
This study uses high-quality longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Ireland study to examine the interplay between home learning environment (HLE) and early childhood education (ECE) in explaining children’s skills development from 9 months to 5 years old across parental socioeconomic status (SES). Random-effects linear regression models show that: (1) supportive HLE improves children’s cognitive and socioemotional skills and ECE quality critically fosters early socioemotional skills; (2) SES is associated with higher early cognitive and socioemotional outcomes, while responsive and consistent parenting behaviours among low-SES parents is particularly critical to improve their children’s socioemotional well-being; (3) high-quality ECE attendance compensates for children’s behavioural problems in less responsive parenting environments, especially among low-SES families, whereas home literacy stimulation is necessary condition for high-quality ECE attendance to benefit children’s early cognitive skills. Overall, HLE and ECE mutually interact in explaining differences in children’s early skills development across SES groups. | |||||
McGinnity, F., McMullin, P., Murray, A., Russell, H. | 2017 | Social inequality in cognitive outcomes in Ireland: What is the role of the home learning environment and childcare? | Open | Childcare, Early Education and Social Inequality: An International Perspective | |
Both psychological and sociological accounts have suggested that the home learning environment play an important role in children’s cognitive development and may provide insights into inequalities in cognitive outcomes. Using the infant cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland Study (GUI), this chapter investigates firstly if differences in the home learning environment at age three helps to explain the social gradient in childhood cognitive outcomes, measured as expressive vocabulary, at age five; and second, can childcare outside the home compensate for a poor home learning environment? Home learning environment is measured as the number of children’s books in the home and a combined index of parental activities with the child that includes reading, crafts and games. A rich home learning environment at age 3 is associated with higher vocabulary scores at age 5 years for all children. The children of lower educated parents tend to live in poorer home learning environments, and this partly explains their lower vocabulary scores at age 5. The chapter also provides some evidence that centre-based childcare was associated with an increase in vocabulary score for children from poor home learning environments. However, this effect is very small and only slightly reduces the gap in vocabulary scores between children from a rich and poor home learning environment. | |||||
Smyth, E. | 2016 | Social relationships and the transition to secondary school | Open | The Economic and Social Review | |
International research has pointed to the social and academic adjustment required of young people moving to secondary education and the importance of social support in easing this transition. However, studies have rarely looked at the simultaneous impact of different social networks on this process and how these networks may mediate the influence of social background. This paper draws on Growing Up in Ireland data to look at the influence of parents, peers and teachers on two dimensions of the transition process, which capture social, socio-emotional and academic aspects of the adjustment: the ease of settling into secondary education, as measured by parents’ reports of transition difficulties among their children, and academic adjustment to secondary education, as reflected in changes in young people’s academic self-image. Parental support is found to play a crucial role in helping young people adjust to the new school setting but, contrary to much previous research, formal involvement in their children’s schooling, especially in helping with homework, plays a much less important role. Over and above supportive relations, parental cultural, economic and social resources are found to play a direct role in improving young people’s confidence as learners and in enhancing transition experiences. Peer networks typically grow larger over the transition to secondary education but those young people who were more socially isolated at primary level experience greater difficulties. In keeping with previous research, the quality of relations with teachers emerges as a key driver of academic and social adjustment to secondary education. | |||||
Layte, R., McCrory, C. | 2016 | Social Variation in Child Health & Development: A Life-course Approach | Open | Cherishing All the Children Equally? Children in Ireland 100 Years on from the Easter Rising | |
None of the many critical moments in Ireland’s often tumultuous history was more significant or defining than the Easter Rising of 1916. Central to the Rising was the Proclamation of Independence, in which Pádraig Pearse declared the new nation’s resolve to cherish all its children equally. CHERISHING ALL THE CHILDREN EQUALLY? brings together contributions from a range of disciplines to shed light on the processes of child development and to investigate how that development is influenced by a variety of demographic, family and socio-economic factors. Making extensive use of research and data that have emerged over recent years from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study of children, the book considers whether or not all children can participate fully and equitably in contemporary Irish society. It asks whether or not we do, in fact, cherish all our children equally in modern Ireland, regardless of their family circumstances, health or ethnic background. TABLES OF CONTENTS:
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Swift, A., McConkey, R., Curry, P., Garcia Iriarte, E. | 2021 | Social-Emotional Difficulties in Irish Children Aged Five and Nine Years: A National, Longitudinal Study | Open | Children | |
A small proportion of children experience social-emotional difficulties from early childhood onwards. Longitudinal studies with nationally representative samples are needed to identify the prevalence and the characteristics of children and families persistently experiencing these difficulties. Secondary analysis of data collected on over 7500 Irish children and with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as the primary indicator, found that 6% of children when they were five year olds and 8% when they were nine-years, had above threshold scores that warranted further investigation. A smaller proportion—2.9% had elevated scores at both ages. Logistic regression analyses found that children with one or more developmental disabilities were up to six times more likely to have sustained difficulties. There were also significant associations with the lower education attainment of primary caregivers and the socio-economic deprivation of families. Primary caregivers and teachers reported higher conflict in their relationships with these children. Although the number of Irish children presenting with continuing social-emotional difficulties is small, they can present an ongoing and future societal cost in terms of the impact on family relations and demands placed on educational, health and social services. This study identified the children and families who are at greatest risk and for whom targeted early intervention services could be provided. | |||||
Nolan, A., Layte, R. | 2014 | Socio-economic inequalities in child health in Ireland. | Open | Economic and Social Review | |
In the literature on the links between socio-economic status (SES) and child health, there is evidence that the SES gradient is weaker for objective indicators of child health (e.g., height) than for subjective indicators (e.g., parental-assessed health). In this paper, we use crosssectional micro-data from the Growing Up in Ireland study to examine the SES gradient in height, weight, general health status and chronic illness incidence. Using household income and mother’s education as indicators of SES, we find only limited support for the contention that the SES gradient in child health in Ireland is stronger for more subjective indicators of child health. |