External Publications Using GUI Data

Reflecting the neglect of childhood disability in social stratification research, there is a notable dearth of research on the mechanisms underpinning disability differentials in educational outcomes. Drawing on rich longitudinal data collected at 9, 13 and 17 years as part of Ireland’s ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ study, we look at the impact of special educational needs (SEN) identification in primary school on upper secondary outcomes. A bioecological framework and the Process–Person–Context–Time model allow us to understand how interactions with family, teachers, friends and school—as proximal processes—relate to early school leaving and post-school planned pathways after accounting for personal and context characteristics. Overall, young people identified at age 9 as having SEN are at increased risk of early school leaving and are more likely to plan to attend further education and training, rather than higher education. However, after accounting for proximal processes and personal and context variables, students identified at age 9 as having SEN are no longer distinct in terms of secondary attainment and post-school planning. Instead, these young people are more likely to experience forms of vulnerability that are important in shaping these outcomes. These key educational outcomes are strongly shaped by family and school-related factors—both proximal processes and context characteristics—suggesting that efforts to support retention and pathway planning should be underpinned by an ecological understanding of young people’s trajectories and the cumulative disadvantages they face.

Key insights

What is the main issue that the paper addresses?

Using a bioecological framework and Growing Up in Ireland data, this paper explores early school leaving and post-school plans among young adults identified in primary school as having special educational needs (SEN). This is a key topic, as young people with SEN are at greater risk of early school leaving and less likely to attend higher education.

What are the main insights that the paper provides?

As a group, young people identified in primary school as having SEN are more likely to experience economic vulnerability and to attend schools with a socioeconomically vulnerable profile. After accounting for these and other key personal and contextual characteristics, childhood SEN status is no longer a significant factor in early school leaving or post-school plans.

The aim of this study was to examine the role of different types of home learning activities, such as reading, singing, painting, playing games, and letters and numbers (ABCs and 123 s), in the development of nonverbal reasoning skills in young children. Although much previous research has focused on the role of the home learning environment in the development of language and numeracy skills, few studies have explored other aspects of cognitive development such as nonverbal reasoning. The data were drawn from the Growing Up in Ireland study, a nationally representative longitudinal birth cohort study. We examined whether learning activities were associated with scores on standardized nonverbal reasoning and vocabulary tests of the British Ability Scales in a sample of 9793 3-year-old children. The regression models also controlled for other factors that potentially influence cognitive development such as the parent–child relationship and maternal education. The findings indicate that activities such as reading, games, and painting/drawing have a small but statistically significant association with nonverbal reasoning scores, as well as with vocabulary scores, even after controlling for other factors in the model. Teaching the alphabet or numbers did not make significant contributions to the model. The findings of the study highlight the importance of considering the role of different types of home learning activities, as well as other environmental factors, in different aspects of cognitive development. We consider the implications of the findings for theories of cognitive development and for supporting cognitive development in young children.

Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) is the national longitudinal study of children and young people in the Republic of Ireland and has followed two cohorts for over ten years to date: Cohort ’98 who were recruited into the study at age nine years and Cohort ’08, recruited at age nine months. The study aims to describe the lives of Irish children and young people in terms of their development, with a view to positively affecting policies and services available for them. Traditionally, data collection involved in-home visits from an interviewer who conducted face-to-face interviews, recorded physical measurements of study participants and administered cognitive assessments. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions, significant adaptations were required to these methods to ensure data collection for the pilot and main fieldwork for Cohort ’08 at age 13 could continue to the expected timeline. Face-to-face interviews with participants were replaced with telephone and web-based modes, interviewer training was conducted online, online resources were made available for interviewers and participants and COVID-19 related items were added to questionnaires. In addition to the scheduled data collection, a special COVID-19 survey was also conducted on both GUI cohorts in December 2020 to explore the impact of the pandemic on participants’ lives. This paper outlines the adaptations made to traditional data collection methods in GUI, highlighting the challenges that were met, but also the benefits of some changes that may be worth incorporating into future waves of GUI.

It is well-established that participation in shared book reading interactions with caregivers supports children’s early language and literacy development. Most of this literature focuses on reading experiences during the preschool period. Less is known about the nature and importance of such practices during infancy. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine literacy practices between parents and infants in a large cohort study, Growing Up in Ireland. Interview, survey, and direct measurements of children’s language skills were used to examine whether parent-report of book reading practices when children were 9-months predicted child expressive vocabulary at 36-months (N = 9171). Regression analysis indicated that approximately 80% of 9-month-old Irish children are read to by parents. Characteristics of families who were more likely to report reading with children emerged: those with higher educational attainment, fewer depressive symptoms, and those who report a high-quality home language environment (e.g., reported talking more to children during everyday activities). Furthermore, children who were read to at 9-months had stronger expressive vocabulary skills at 36-months, even after accounting for socio-demographic and home literacy environment covariates measured at both 9- and 36-months. Results are discussed using a bioecological framework to describe how proximal and distal factors in the child’s environment converge to impact early childhood literacy development.

Whilst there is a large evidence base demonstrating the impact of maternal depression on the development of adolescent internalising problems, less is known about the association between paternal depression and adolescent internalising problems, and the mechanisms through which risk is conferred. This study examined the association between paternal depression and adolescent internalising problems, investigating parenting style as a pathway through which this association may be mediated. Participants included 4048 families taking part in the Growing Up in Ireland child cohort study. Self-report measures of paternal depression were completed when the study child was aged 9. Adolescents assessed paternal demandingness, responsiveness and autonomy granting at the age of 13. Adolescent internalising symptoms were measured at the age of 17/18 by the primary caregiver. A parallel multiple mediator model was used to test the total and specific indirect effects of the three parenting styles, whilst controlling for covariates and other mediators in the model. A direct effect of paternal depression on adolescent internalising problems was found (B = .051, 95% CI: 0.020, 0.083). However, no support for mediation via any of the paternal parenting styles (i.e., responsiveness, demandingness, or autonomy-granting) were found. These findings build on an emerging evidence-base demonstrating a specific direct association between paternal depression and adolescent internalising problems, and suggest that interventions ought to also target fathers suffering from depression to help reduce the risk of adolescent internalising problems.

This paper examines multidimensional poverty for three waves of a cohort of Irish children ranging from ages 9 to 17. Poverty is measured over the dimensions of health, education and family resources and both unidimensional and multidimensional poverty is examined. Both show a clear gradient with respect to maternal education. The dynamics of both unidimensional and multidimensional poverty are also analysed. The greatest degree of mobility is observed with respect to family resources. Mobility also is higher for children whose mothers have lower levels of education, with net movements into rather than out of poverty.

Background
Meeting physical activity and screen time guidelines has been associated with improved health in children. Research has shown that lifestyle behaviours happen in combination and can be tracked into later life. Thus, a complex approach is needed to identify the effects of physical activity and screen time altogether. This study aims to identify clusters of both behaviours in a cohort of Irish 3-year-old children (n = 8833) and determine the association with sociodemographic characteristics and behaviours at age 5 and 7-8.

Methods
Data from the “Growing Up in Ireland” study collected between 2010 and 2016 was used in this study. Two-step cluster analysis was used to understand how physical activity and recreational screen time behaviours group together among 3-year-old children. Binary logistic regressions were conducted to examine if cluster placement at age 3 determined physical activity and recreational screen time behaviours at age 5 and 7-8 years, while controlling for gender of child, gender, age and employment status of the primary caregiver.

Results
Six clusters were identified in 9771 (49.3% female) 3-year-old children with the majority falling into a “High Active & Mixed Screen Time” (23.2%). Those in the “High Active & Mixed Screen Time” cluster at age 3 were more likely to engage in all physical activities reported at age 5 (p < 0.01) and age 7-8 (p < 0.01) when compared to a “Low Active & Screen Time Exceed” cluster. Children categorised in a “Moderate Active & Screen Time Below” and “Moderate Active & Screen Time Exceed” were more likely to engage in the same physical activities at age 5 and 7-8 (p < 0.05 – p < 0.01). However, children in the latter cluster were also more likely (p < 0.05) to play on a computer or tablet device.

Conclusions
This paper highlights the importance of establishing positive health-related behaviours during early childhood, as this predicts future engagement in health-promoting activities. Regardless of screen time level, being part of a cluster with moderate or high levels of physical activity positively influences a child’s future physical activity at age 5 and again at age 7 -8 years. The multiple layers of influence on a child’s development should be leveraged to support the adoption of health-enhancing behaviours.

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.

Parents’ and teachers’ beliefs and evaluations of young people are important. Using a feminist institutionalist perspective, and drawing on rich data from one in seven nine-year-old children in Ireland, this paper examines mothers’ (who make up the overwhelming majority of primary care-givers) and teachers’ perceptions of boys’ and girls’ mathematics performance. The evidence shows that girls’ mathematics performance is underestimated by both relative to boys’. Mother’s gender bias was evident among high performing children, at all levels of children’s academic self-concept, and among mothers with at least third level education. While the judgements reflect children’s actual performance and engagement, a notable gender gap remains. It is suggested that the results reflect gender stereotypes: overestimating boys’ and underestimating girls’ mathematics achievements. The article indicates the importance of the informal dimension of institutions and the part played by women in the effective devaluation of girls by endorsing gendered stereotypes. Women teachers are less likely to rate children highly in mathematics, taking account of performance: arguably reflecting their own lack of confidence in mathematics assessment. The findings raise concerns for girls’ futures since mathematics is seen as an indicator of intelligence. Given the move towards teacher-assessed grading during COVID-19, understanding, and challenging, gender-stereotyping is pressing.

Differentials in physical activity (PA) between social and economic groups has been shown to contribute significantly to social gradients in health and life expectancy, yet relatively little is known about why differentials in PA emerge. This paper uses longitudinal data on a nationally representative sample of 6,216 young people aged between 9 and 18, from Ireland, to measure the role of family, school and neighbourhood level factors in accounting for differentials in PA trajectories between groups of young people, defined by level of maternal education, whilst adjusting for the individual characteristics of the young person (sex, age, personality, body mass index and health-status). Levels of PA fall significantly across the sample between 9 and 18, and the decline in PA is larger for the children of lower educated mothers. We find a clear gradient in PA at each age by maternal education for both males and females. Descriptive analyses found social gradients in the majority of our risk factors. Using multi-level, linear spline regression models to decompose differentials between groups, we find that family-level mechanisms account for the biggest proportion of the differential in PA for both males (50.8%) and females (35.1%). Differences in income across maternal education categories accounted for 24.1% of the differential for males and 14.7% among females, making it the second most effective mechanism in explaining the social patterning of PA. Neighbourhood-level processes resulted in a modest reduction in the same differential, while school level processes had the effect of equalising differences in PA across maternal education groups.

Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic wrought acute harm to mental wellbeing across the globe; not least through its impact on morbidity and mortality, but also from health anxieties, lockdowns and their economic fallout, the closure of key services, as well as the disruption of social networks. However, while the pandemic’s onset was global, not everyone experienced the same harm to their mental health. This study draws on information on the mothers of 12-year-olds from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study to look at what helped cushion the negative impact of the pandemic on their mental health.

Data and Methods
The study draws on GUI data on Cohort ’08, a nationally representative sample of children born 2007-2008 along with their caregivers. In December 2020, the GUI team conducted a survey of primary caregivers (98 per cent of whom are mothers) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mothers’ mental health is captured using the Short-form Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), with higher scores indicating a greater risk of depression. The longitudinal nature of GUI means we can compare measures of mothers’ mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic (December 2020) with two previous timepoints before the pandemic – wave 3 (2013/2014) and wave 5 (2017/2018) – to see whether trends in depression changed significantly over the pandemic.

The study looks at four sets of factors: (1) mothers’ social resources, such as the level of social cohesion in their neighbourhood (e.g., trust and reciprocity among neighbours) or the support they receive from friends/family; (2) their economic resources, such as the share of income received from welfare, or how difficult they feel it is to ‘make ends meet’; (3) the quality of mothers’ local environment, such as the degree of traffic problems; and (4) their religiosity, such as how often they attend church. All of these factors are measured prior to the onset of the pandemic to reflect the resources mothers had at their disposal going into the crisis.

To understand how these buffering factors may have cushioned mothers’ mental health, the study uses a set of measures on what experiences mothers had during the pandemic. These include whether they found supervising their child’s schoolwork stressful, whether they experienced a loss of income/employment, or whether they had COVID or were anxious about friends/family contracting it.

Results

What factors cushioned the impact of the pandemic on mothers’ mental health?

In the years prior to the pandemic (2013/2014 to 2017/2018), levels of depression among mothers remained relatively low and stable. However, depression scores among mothers rose steeply with the onset of the pandemic (compared to 2017/18), nearly doubling. Yet, not all mothers experienced an equal increase in depression scores.

Stronger economic resources, and better household conditions, played a protective role: depression scores rose less among mothers who reported being able to ‘financially make ends meet’ easily (compared to those who found it difficult) and among mothers who lived in less overcrowded housing. The local environments in which mothers were living also helped cushion their mental health. Mothers who lived in neighbourhoods where heavy traffic was not a problem, and those who lived in rural areas, saw their depression scores increase less over the pandemic, compared to mothers in more urban areas or where traffic was a major problem.

The strongest protective factors were mothers’ social resources and their religiosity. Mothers who, just before the pandemic, had a partner in the household and who felt they got the help they needed from friends and family saw their depression scores increase less over the pandemic. Those who reported living in more socially cohesive neighbourhoods (where neighbours trust each other, exchange favours, or feel more attached) – what are termed in the research literature as high social capital areas – were more strongly protected against depression during the pandemic. Symptoms of depression also increased much more steeply among mothers who never attended church before the pandemic compared to mothers who used to attend daily or weekly (even though in-person services had not resumed at the time of the survey).

How did these buffering factors protect mothers’ mental health?

Social resources cushioned mothers’ mental health because, during the pandemic, these mothers experienced better family relations and struggled less with care work, home schooling, and their children’s return to school. Economic resources supported mental wellbeing by reducing financial stresses, enabling better home/outdoor environments, and likely allowing families to purchase the tablets, laptops, and high-speed internet needed to engage in home schooling and working more easily. A better-quality local environment allowed mothers to spend more time outside and improved family relations. It was harder to explain the protective role of religiosity, but it may relate to greater optimism or a stronger sense of meaning in life that help protect people from the stress of adversity.

Conclusion and policy implications
This study finds strong evidence that the social, economic, religious, and environmental characteristics in people’s lives protect their mental health when experiencing adverse life events. While some of these characteristics are personal, others can be influenced by policy. Investment in local infrastructure to enhance access to green spaces and reduce neighbourhood disorder will pay dividends in supporting the mental wellbeing of women and their families. Furthermore, community development initiatives to foster a sense of local belonging and trust will enhance families’ capacity to weather crises. Integrating such perspectives into crisis management could help protect societies, particularly more vulnerable groups, and potentially weaken the well-documented long-term scarring effects that adverse life events have on people’s lives.

The increasing importance of identifying lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) populations is a key driver in changes to demographic data collection in representative surveys of youth. While such population-based data are rare, Growing Up in Ireland (GUI), an Irish, government-funded, longitudinal survey, includes sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) measurements. This qualitative study responds to a query from the GUI study team and aims to identify how best to collect SOGI data in future waves of GUI. A university Human Research Ethics Committee granted approval for online consultations with LGBT+ youth (n = 6) with experiential expertise in policy making. The research is underpinned by rights-based public patient involvement (PPI) with recorded discussions, which were transcribed and imported into NVivo 12, generating the theme “recognition in research, policy and society”. This co-created article, with the LGBT+ young PPI Panel members, commends the inclusion of SOGI data in GUI and recommends changes in question placement and phrasing. Aligning with best practice, the PPI members provide a template for wording on consecutive sex and gender questions, expanded sexual orientation identity categories and maintaining the existing well-phrased transgender question from GUI. This offers potential to improve the quality of the SOGI data collected and the experience of those completing the questionnaire. These findings extend beyond GUI, with relevance for surveys with youth populations. This paper underscores the potential and benefits of participatory approaches to research with youth and views their role beyond simply as sources of data.

Keywords: LGBT+, sexual minority youth (SMY), gender minority youth (GMY), Growing Up in Ireland (GUI), SOGI measurement, quantitative, qualitative, survey design, PPI

Importance As young people’s mental health difficulties increase, understanding risk and resilience factors under challenging circumstances becomes critical.

Objective To explore the outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic on secondary school students’ mental health difficulties, as well as the associations with individual, family, friendship, and school characteristics.

Design, Setting, and Participants For this cohort study, follow-up data from the My Resilience in Adolescence (MYRIAD) cluster randomized clinical trial were collected across 2 representative UK cohorts. Mainstream UK secondary schools with a strategy and structure to deliver social-emotional learning, with an appointed head teacher, and that were not rated “inadequate” in their latest official inspection were recruited. A total of 5663 schools were approached, 532 showed interest, and 84 consented. Cohort 1 included 12 schools and 864 students, and cohort 2 included 72 schools and 6386 students. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic after cohort 1 had completed all assessments (September 2018 to January 2020), but cohort 2 had not (September 2019 to June 2021).

Exposures Cohort 2 was exposed to the COVID-19 pandemic, including 3 national lockdowns. Associations of individual, family, friendship, and school characteristics with students’ mental health were explored.

Main Outcomes and Measures Changes in students’ risk for depression (Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale); social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire); and mental well-being (Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale).

Results Of the 7250 participants included, the mean (SD) age was 13.7 (0.6) years, 3947 (55.4%) identified as female, and 5378 (73.1%) self-reported their race as White. Twelve schools and 769 of the 864 students (89.0%) in cohort 1 and 54 schools and 2958 of the 6386 students (46.3%) in cohort 2 provided data and were analyzed. Mental health difficulties increased in both cohorts but to a greater extent among students exposed to the pandemic, including for risk of depression (adjusted mean difference [AMD], 1.91; 95% CI, 1.07-2.76); social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties (AMD, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.33-1.18); and mental well-being (AMD, −2.08; 95% CI, −2.80 to −1.36). Positive school climate, high home connectedness, and having a friend during lockdown were protective factors during the pandemic. Female gender and initial low risk for mental health difficulties were associated with greater mental health deteriorations. Partial school attendance during lockdown was associated with better adjustment than no attendance when returning to school.

Conclusions and Relevance This cohort study of secondary school students demonstrated that to promote mental health and adjustment, policy interventions should foster home connectedness, peer friendship, and school climate; avoid full school closures; and consider individual differences.