External Publications Using GUI Data

Children, particularly those of preschool ages (below 3 years), spend the majority of time indoors in the family home. Home conditions can impact upon occupant’s health, with energy poverty identified as a public health concern in Europe and internationally. Children growing up in energy poor homes may be especially vulnerable to health impacts, though the area is relatively understudied. This study addresses a gap in understanding, examining the effect of household energy poverty on the health of resident children using longitudinal data from two cohorts – an Infant Cohort (aged 9 months to 5 years) and a Child Cohort (aged 9 years to 17–18 years), growing up in Ireland.

Panel logistic regression models adjust for a range of covariates including socioeconomic and household information as well as smoking in the household. For the Infant Cohort, household energy poverty was associated with a 1.41 times higher odds of child respiratory illness (p = 0.003; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.12–1.77), and 1.47 times the odds of child wheezing (p < 0.001; 95% CI 1.25–1.74). The odds of a young child being rated as very healthy was lower (point estimate: 0.85, p = 0.011; 95% CI 0.75–0.96). For older children, the relationships were not statistically significant. The risk that energy poverty presents for the health of young children merits continued policy attention.

Objective
To explore whether the associations between developmental delays in the first year of life and psychosocial outcomes in preschool children are affected by participation in organized sport.

Study design
Data were obtained from the infant cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland project. Parents reported on child development (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) at age 1 year, psychosocial characteristics (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) at ages 3 and 5 years, and engagement in organized sport at age 5 years. Data were analyzed using mixed models.

Results
At age 1 year, 15% of the cohort was classified as having developmental delays. These children exhibited more behavioral difficulties (0.55, ±0.27; mean difference, ±95% confidence limits [CL]) (P < .0001) and fewer prosocial behaviors (−0.54, ±0.11) (P < .0001) at age 3 years. For boys in this group, engagement in sport was associated with a significant decrease in behavioral difficulties between ages 3 and 5 years (−0.44, ±0.39) (P = .03). Compared with those classified as lacking regular engagement (ie, never engaging, or engaging <1 hour/week), the relative effect of sport on changes in behavioral difficulties for boys with developmental delays was statistically significant (0.70, ±0.59) (P = .02). Participation in sport was not associated with significant changes in behavioral difficulties for girls, or a significant change in prosocial behaviors for boys or girls.

Conclusions
Regular participation in sport by boys could attenuate some of the behavioral difficulties associated with early development. Lack of opportunities for engaging in sport could negatively affect boys’ behavioral regulation in the preschool period.

Background
While it has been purported that excessive screen time can lead to behavioral problems, it has also been suggested that children with behavioral dysregulation receive more access to screens to manage problematic behavior. In this study, both temporally stable and longitudinal associations between screen time and externalizing and internalizing behaviors across childhood are examined to directly address this issue of directionality.

Methods
Data are from a prospective cohort of 10,172 Irish children, collected between 2010 and 2018 when children were ages 3, 5, 7, and 9. Children’s screen time (hours/day) and externalizing and internalizing behaviors (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) were assessed via caregiver report. Random-intercepts cross-lagged panel models were used to estimate longitudinal bidirectional associations while controlling for temporally stable (i.e., ‘time-invariant’ or ‘trait-like’) differences between children.

Results
Temporally stable differences between children were observed for both screen time and behavior problems. Longitudinal trajectories for screen time lacked stability; however, and externalizing and internalizing behaviors stabilized increasingly during later childhood. Greater externalizing and internalizing behaviors at age 3 were directionally associated with increased screen time at age 5. Greater screen time at ages 3 and 5 was directionally associated with increased internalizing behaviors at ages 5 and 7, respectively. More screen time at age 7 was directionally associated with fewer internalizing behaviors at age 9. Screen time was not associated with later externalizing behaviors.

Conclusions
Bidirectional associations between screen time and internalizing behaviors were observed for preschoolers. Directional associations between screen time and internalizing difficulties were observed across childhood. These findings can inform screen use guidelines and family media planning at different ages and stages of development.

The objective of this study was to explore the extent to which the association between screen time and psychosocial development in preschool children differed between the sexes and according to their frequency of engagement in physical activity. Data are based on a prospective cohort of Irish children, collected between 2010 and 2013 when children were ages 3 (n=9786) and 5 years (n=9001). Children’s screen time (h/day), psychosocial development (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire), and physical activity (bouts/week) were assessed via caregiver report. The magnitude of the association between screen time and changes in behavioural difficulties differed significantly between the sexes. For boys, the association between increased screen time and the onset of behavioural problems coincided directly with a reduction in their frequency of engagement in physical activity. The association between screen time and changes in behavioural difficulties was not moderated by girls’ engagement in physical activity, however; and there was no difference in the association between screen time and prosocial behaviours at different frequencies of engagement in physical activity for either boys or girls.

Conclusions
Results support recommendations to establish greater balance between physical activity and sedentary behaviours in token economy systems to minimise the negative effects of excessive screen time.

The paper examines the effects of socioeconomic background (SES) – measured by social class, family income and parental education – cognitive ability, and gender on a variety of key outcomes from a large longitudinal study based on a representative sample of thirteen-year-olds. The data analysed comprised 6216 children who participated in waves 1 to 3 of the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) longitudinal survey. The outcome measures drawn from wave 3, when respondents were aged about seventeen, were: examination results and several cognitive measures, life difficulties, and quality of relationships. Three regression models were compared with and without, SES measures (occupational class, household income and parental education) and cognitive ability. On academic and cognitive attainments, cognitive ability at age 13 had substantially more explanatory power than the SES measures together. On measures of adolescent difficulties and on family relationships, cognitive ability was important, but gender and to a lesser extent, household income and parental education had some effects. Claims that class background and family income are of central importance for adolescent outcomes are not supported.

Gender inequality in housework divisions is persistent. This study examined early-emerging patterns in gender roles via children’s gendered housework time in the Irish context using time-use diary and questionnaire data, controlling for key demographic variables. This study utilized longitudinal “Growing up in Ireland” data, comparing the same children’s behaviour at age 9 and 13. Participants were a nationally representative, weighted sample of school going children living in Ireland, including 4,135 girls, 3,831 boys and their caregivers. The results highlight that inequalities in domestic chores occur at nine and are even greater at 13: girls do more housework and children tend to do “gender typical” chores. Consequences are discussed in relation to gender inequality and policy implications.

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?

Children with disabilities experience significantly poorer socio-emotional outcomes than their peers without disabilities. However, research evidence is scarce about children with both disability and migration background, the group which this study aimed to investigate using data from a national longitudinal study. Secondary data analyses were conducted on a sample of 7290 children (weighted with missing values imputed). Significant differences in socio-emotional outcomes were found in relation to impairment status but not in relation to migration. Having an impairment and activity limitation significantly increased the likelihood of experiencing poorer socio-emotional outcomes over time. Our findings highlight a higher risk of socio-emotional problems among children with disabilities, especially among children from lower income backgrounds and with parents with lower educational attainment. These findings clearly require policy development on two fronts: to raise professional and community awareness on these issues and to strengthen the capacity of health, education and social care systems to support schools, families, and communities.

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.

Given growing concerns about disadvantaged boys’ achievement and disengagement from learning, this paper investigates differences in reading ability by gender and social origin. It uses data from the Growing Up in Ireland study to investigate how parents’ approach to learning at home and children’s exposure to early care and education contribute to these differences. We find that both children’s gender and their family’s social class influence their cognitive development between age 3 and age 9, though the effects are additive, with little variation in the gender gap across social class groups. Parents from more advantaged social classes read more to their 3-year-old children than other parents, yet by age 5, when most children have started primary school, these class differences in parental reading are much lower. Parental reading, ECCE participation and length of primary school exposure were found to facilitate language development and partly explain differences in reading scores at age 9, although strong direct effects of social class remained, even accounting for vocabulary score at age 3. The benefits from parental reading, ECCE and exposure to school are broadly similar for boys and girls, though there is some evidence that boys benefit more than girls from longer exposure to school.

Background
Energy poverty, typified by cold homes and/or an inability to afford energy bills, presents risks to the mental health of occupants. Parents of young children may be especially susceptible to a mental health toll from energy poverty since they have a significant care obligation and spend much of their day at home.

Methods
Data from the Growing Up in Ireland study inform this longitudinal analysis.

Results
A 1.64 greater odds of maternal depression were estimated for households containing young children characterized by energy poverty [P = 0.000; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.31–2.05]. For energy poor households with older children (9 years and above), the odds of maternal depression were also higher [odds ratio (OR) 1.74, P = 0.001; 95% CI: 1.27–2.39]. Fathers of young children had greater odds of depression in energy poor households (OR 1.59, P = 0.002; 95% CI: 1.19–2.12), though the deleterious effect on mental health was not statistically significant for fathers of older children.

Conclusions
Energy poverty increases the likelihood of depression in parents. These findings merit policy attention since a mental health burden is in itself important, and more widely, parental well-being can influence child development and outcomes.

Background
Bullying has a profound and enduring impact on academic achievement. However, there is a lack of clarity surrounding the specific mechanisms of this relationship.

Aims
This study examined the link between bullying at age 9 and Numeracy/Literacy achievement at age 15 to determine if this relationship is partially or fully explained by psychological difficulties at age 13.

Sample
Secondary data analysis was completed on waves 1, 2 and 3 of child cohort (Cohort’98) of the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, respectively, at 9 years (N = 8568), 13 years (N = 7527) and 15 years of age (N = 6216).

Results
Longitudinal path mediation model was conducted with bullying at age 9 as the predictor, total (emotional and behavioural) difficulties at age 13 as the mediator and Numeracy/Literacy scores at age 15 as outcomes revealing significant indirect effects of bullying on achievement, via psychological difficulties.

Conclusions
We discuss the impact of bullying on the student’s psychological well-being, the relationship between bullying and academic attainment and how this may be tackled to avoid consequences throughout education and later in life.

Educational Impact and Implications
This study emphasizes the need for schools to address the emotional and behavioural difficulties occurring as a result of bullying in order to improve the overall educational experience of a child. Existing interventions can be built upon by focusing on the continuous remediation of such psychological difficulties.

Background
Health disparities for children with intellectual disabilities can be challenging to measure due to many other factors that can impact health and healthcare use. The aim of the current study was to use longitudinal cohort data to compare children with intellectual disability (ID) in Ireland between 2006 and 2014 on healthcare utilisation and unmet need, at ages 9 and 13, using a propensity score matching (PSM) approach.

Methods
Using data from the Growing up in Ireland study, PSM was used to identify an appropriate control sample to compare with a sample of children with ID (n = 124). Participants were matched on variables that are known to influence healthcare utilisation to reduce the impact of confounding variables between groups so that differences between the groups can be estimated. Logistic regression was used to estimate effects at ages 9 and 13.

Results
Children with ID were no more likely to have visited a general practitioner or emergency department in the past 12 months than children without ID. They did have a greater likelihood of visiting a doctor in a hospital in the past 12 months and of having an overnight stay in hospital by age 9. Primary caregivers of children with ID were more likely to report unmet health needs at ages 9 and 13.

Conclusions
This approach is a novel means of comparing healthcare use in this population by balancing the impact of other factors that may result in inequities, to which children with ID may be more vulnerable.

Young children born preterm may be more affected by environmental influences than their full-term peers. Few studies have investigated whether such effects exist for older children and young adolescents. With participants aged 9 and 13 years, we examine whether children born preterm could be differentially affected by the quality of their relationship with their mothers and fathers. We used the Growing Up in Ireland dataset: a longitudinal sample of 8,568 children in Ireland (51.4% female, 48.6% male) and their parents. We found that parent–child conflict was consistently associated with poorer verbal, numerical, and socioemotional outcomes; in some instances, parent–child closeness was associated with better outcomes. Being born very preterm was consistently associated with negative outcomes. We found support for a diathesis-stress model of preterm birth in just one instance: children born very preterm displayed a stronger relationship between maternal conflict and increased socioemotional difficulties.

Child chronic illness/ disability can present significant challenges for children, families and society that require appropriate policy responses; yet little is known about the demands placed on families resources from an economics perspective in terms of its impact on household income and the extra income required to achieve the same standard of living as families who do not have a child with a chronic illness/disability. The paper uses data from the Growing Up in Ireland National survey dataset for nine year olds. It is the first study to empirically investigate the impact of child chronic illness/disability on earnings, standard of living and the extra cost of disability together. It is also the first study to explicitly address endogeneity in the standard of living model by using a two-stage process where residuals were harvested to provide efficient estimates. The findings show that families experience significant disadvantage and economic hardship due to reduced household income and a lower standard of living due to the extra cost of disability that would require considerable income to compensate. Policy implications of these findings suggest that a tiered approach to disability support payments which encompass broader criteria for inclusion based on varying severity levels be introduced to alleviate the financial hardship and compromised economic wellbeing of families affected. In addition, more innovative policies are required to implement appropriate timely access to health and social care services and flexi parental employment, which in turn requires the provision of adequate access to high quality educational and care facilities.

The sudden health and economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic affords an opportunity to examine the impact of economic disruption to children and families. Any negative effects on the well-being of children are important to consider in relation to both short- and long-term outcomes. Using pre-pandemic and mid-pandemic waves of the longitudinal Growing Up in Ireland study, we examined whether the impact of economic disruption was equivalent for families who were (or were not) financially vulnerable pre-pandemic. We then investigated whether economic disruption was associated with a negative effect on the emotional well-being of 12-year-olds, and if there was evidence for such a negative effect being mediated through a lack of material resources or strain on family dynamics. Our results indicated that middle-income rather than lowest-income families experienced the most economic disruption, likely reflecting the sector-specific nature of business closures in the pandemic. Families who were financially vulnerable pre-pandemic were less likely to have had suitable resources for homeschooling. Both falls in income and strain in family relationships, such as arguing more with their parents, were associated with poorer scores on a measure of the child’s emotional well-being. The emergency income support payment introduced at the start of the pandemic appeared to have a protective effect on the association between family income loss and child well-being, which has wider implications for policy on child poverty.

Keywords
COVID-19, pandemic, economic resources, financial strain, child well-being, family relationships, homeschooling

In today’s increasingly diverse societies, a key question is how to foster the structural integration of immigrants and their descendants. While research indicates that migrant educational underachievement is a serious issue, relatively little is known about achievement gaps at younger ages and in relatively new immigration countries. The current study sets out to estimate the size of disparities by migration background at age five (i.e. when they start school) and explores the causes of these gaps. It does so in a context that offers a compelling but under-researched case: the Republic of Ireland. It draws on the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) data, a national longitudinal study of children in Ireland. The results suggest that some disparities by migration background already existed at the start of primary school, but also that gaps were limited to verbal skills and differed widely across groups. Moreover, social background only played a relatively minor role in explaining the differences, whereas the child’s first language was a powerful predictor of disadvantages by migration background in verbal skills.

The quality of the interparental relationship bears important implications for children’s socioemotional development. Given evidence that relationship satisfaction among parents tends to decline over time this study examined how change in parents’ relationship satisfaction from nine-months-old until nine-years-old related to children’s socioemotional difficulties at nine-years-old. Participants were 2074 mothers, fathers, and their child (55.1% male) recruited through random sampling of the Child Benefit Registrar by Growing Up in Ireland cohort study. Mothers ranged in age from 18 to 40 years (M = 31.06, SD = 4.70) and fathers ranged in age from 18 to 60 years (M = 33.50, SD = 5.54). Mothers and fathers completed the Dyadic Adjustment Scale at nine-months-old and at nine-years-old whereas child socioemotional development was assessed via teacher report on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at nine-years-old. Residualised change analysis indicated that both parents experienced declines in relationship satisfaction from nine-months-old until nine- years-old. However, in families where initial levels of relationship satisfaction were high, there was no significant association between decline in satisfaction and child socioemotional difficulties. Conversely, in couples where initial levels of satisfaction were low, mothers, but not fathers, who experienced further declines had female, but not male, children with more socioemotional difficulties at nine years (β = −0.22, p = 0.01; R2 = 0.15, F = 2.31, p = 0.02). These findings highlight the need for carefully tailored interventions aimed at promoting couple relationship satisfaction during transition to parenthood such that the negative impact on children of any decline experienced over time can be mitigated.

Aims
This study aims to replicate Przybylski and Weinstein (Psychol Sci 28(2):204–215, 2017), using a large population cohort to examine the validity of the proposed Goldilocks Hypothesis, which states that moderate digital media engagement may be beneficial and that both high and low usage may have a negative relationship with mental wellbeing.

Methods
Using the GUI98 cohort, we used separate weekday and weekend time-based categorical variables indicating time spent online, playing video games, watching TV/films as well as a frequency variable indicating multiscreening, and their associations with SDQ internalizing and externalizing symptoms using linear and quadratic regression parameters. We followed procedures for confounder adjustments outlined in Przybylski and Weinstein (Psychol Sci 28(2):204–215, 2017).

Results
As hypothesized by the Goldilocks Hypothesis, time spent online watching TV/films at the weekend and multiscreening all had curvilinear relationships with internalizing and externalizing symptoms with significantly higher symptoms for no time as well as for higher exposures. internalizing and externalizing symptoms increased with time spent playing video games.

Conclusions
This brief report supports the Goldilocks Hypothesis, that suggests that moderate use of digital technology is not intrinsically harmful and may instead be beneficial, even necessary in a world becoming ever more increasingly reliant on digital media (Przybylski and Weinstein in Psychol Sci 28(2):204–215, 2017).