External Publications Using GUI Data

There has been a good deal of attention in Irish policy discourse to housing supply and affordability. However, there has been less focus on the extent to which the quality of housing impacts the wellbeing of children and their parents. This study addresses this gap in knowledge by using data from Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Cohort ’08 to explore the influence of housing and neighbourhood quality on parental and child wellbeing. In particular, it looks at how the length of time households have spent experiencing inadequate housing can shape families’ wellbeing. The study adopts a multidimensional approach to measuring inadequate housing, capturing whether the home is unsuitable (in terms of size or problems like damp), whether the household struggles to adequately heat the home, lack of access to a garden or play space, the number of residential moves and the type of tenure. In addition, neighbourhood quality is assessed in terms of local disorder, having low social capital (with few family and friends in the area) and having access to fewer local services. Child wellbeing is measured using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which captures the extent of children’s socio-emotional difficulties.

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.

Background
Self-harm is a major public health concern in young people and is governed by a complex interaction of different risk factors. While many studies have identified these risk factors, less is known about how they tend to co-occur together.

Methods
A latent class analysis was conducted using risk factors for self-harm from two waves at ages 13 and 17 from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study their associations with self-harm were examined longitudinally at ages 17 and 20, respectively.

Results
At age 13, there was a ‘peer problems’ group with higher probabilities of bullying, being unpopular and internalising problems and a ‘school and substance use problems’ group with higher probabilities of substance use, truancy or excessive absence from school and violence. Both of these two groups had over a two-fold risk of self-harm at age 17 in comparison to the low risk factor group. At age 17, there was a group with depression that was diagnosed by a medical professional with the highest relative risk (RR:13.9 (95 % CI 10.2–19.0)) of self-harm at age 20. Two other groups with undiagnosed depression had high probabilities of being bullied, and either high or low probabilities of substance use that had a 9.4 (95 % CI 6.8–13.1) and 7.4 (95 % CI 5.5–10.0) relative risk of self-harm at age 20, respectively.

Conclusions
Identifying hidden sub-groups using risk factors for self-harm in young people can inform potential public health interventions by clinicians and other professionals who work with young people.

Self-harm in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) is the result of a complex interaction of biological, psychiatric, psychological, social, and cultural risk factors. A lot of research has already been conducted to identify the risk factors for self-harm in AYAs. On the other hand, there has been less research conducted on the simultaneous effects of, and the interactions between, multiple risk factors for self-harm in heterogeneous AYA individuals. In this study, we conducted a latent class analysis (LCA) of three waves from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) longitudinal cohort study at ages 13, 17 and 20 to identify homogenous subgroups of AYA individuals who exhibit similar risk markers for self-harm at these three time points. Then, we evaluated the risk that these subgroups ever self-harmed by age 17, self-harmed at age 20, or were persistently self-harming across both time points. The most at-risk group appeared to be the individuals aged 17 who had been diagnosed with depression/anxiety. Compared to the low-risk-marker group, the ‘diagnosed with depression/anxiety’ group had a 30-fold risk of self-harm at age 17, and 32-fold risk of persistently self-harming by age 20. The ‘undiagnosed but high depression’ group at this time point was also at significant risk of self-harm. This research enables us to understand which risk markers tend to co-occur together and will help to identify high-risk groups for self-harm both clinically and in the community. An investigation of risk markers like this can potentially be used in the design of public health interventions to reduce the burden of self-harm, and indeed suicide, in young people.

Key messages

• We identified sub-groups of young people with a high-risk of self-harm and suicide from the general population.

• These identifiable sub-groups can inform intervention policies and strategies for prevention programmes both in clinical and non-clinical settings like schools.

Childhood obesity is a growing concern worldwide. The association between childhood obesity and maternal smoking and/or paternal smoking has been reported. However, few studies have explored the association between childhood obesity and exposure to carers’ smoking status. This study aimed to assess the impact of carers’ smoking status on childhood obesity in a cohort of children enrolled in the Growing up in Ireland (GUI) study. Participants from the GUI infant cohort were categorized into four groups based on their exposure status: Neither caregiver smoked (60.4%), only primary caregiver smoked (13.4%), both caregivers smoked (10.9%). Exposure to primary carers’ smoking (98% are biological mothers) was found to be significantly associated with childhood overweight/obesity at age three (Odds Ratio: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.17–1.46) and at age five (OR: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.16–1.49). Exposure to both carers’ smoking status was significantly associated with increased odds of childhood overweight/obesity across both waves. These findings emphasize the health burden of childhood obesity that may be attributable to maternal smoking postnatally and through early childhood in Ireland.

Keywords
growing up in Ireland, childhood obesity, primary carer, secondary carer

New research, published by the ESRI and produced in partnership with the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE), uses Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) data to look at the profile of fathers not living full-time with their children (termed non-resident fathers in the report). The GUI study has included both resident and non-resident fathers in almost all waves of the study. While the primary focus of this report is on how best to involve non-resident fathers in future waves of the new GUI birth cohort, the report provides interesting insights on non-resident fathers and their relationships with their children. It also draws on interviews with researchers from international child cohort studies and with separated parents and NGOs working with parents in Ireland.

Previous research has tended to classify stepfamilies based on self-report of their familial relationships. However, some stepfamily members do not identify as being part of a stepfamily, leading to the exclusion of certain stepfamilies from stepfamily research. Using data from the first national cohort study of children in Ireland, the aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of self-identifying stepfamilies with those of non-self-identifying stepfamilies, a group about which little is known. The analysis revealed that in approximately 10% of stepfamilies, neither parent declared their stepfamily status (n = 34, N = 288 stepfamilies). No differences emerged between self-identifying and non-self-identifying stepfamilies in the quality of the parent–child or spousal relationships. Non-self-identifying stepfamilies were less likely to be complex, and were more likely to be stepmother and simple stepfamilies than self-identifying stepfamilies. These findings suggest that non-self-identifying stepfamilies constitute a significant minority of stepfamilies who may exhibit unique structural characteristics.

Keywords: stepfamily; family  relationships; identity; stepchildren; stepparents; membership status

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.

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:

1. Introduction
2. Changing Perceptions and Experiences of Childhood, 1916-2016
3. Children and Families, Then & Now
4. Is Family Structure a Source of Inequality in Children’s Lives?
5. Parental Investment & Child Development
6. Inequalities in Access to Early Care and Education in Ireland
7. Inequalities from the Start? Children’s Integration into Primary School
8. Insights into the Prevalence of Special Educational Needs
9. The Experiences of Migrant Children in Ireland
10. Social Variation in Child Health & Development: A Life-course Approach
11. Child Access to GP Services in Ireland: Do User Fees Matter?
12. Anti-Social Behaviour at Age 13
13. Child Economic Vulnerability Dynamics in the Recession
14. Concluding Observations

Chapter 6 provides a detailed discussion of the history of childcare provision in Ireland throughout the 20th century before investigating trends in non-parental childcare for infants in the first few years of life. The role of the Free Pre-school Year, a major policy shift in the Irish context, is also discussed.

This article draws on the Growing Up in Ireland study and the Scottish sample of the Millennium Cohort Study to explore the factors influencing inequalities in children’s cognitive skills on entry to primary education. It adopts a multidimensional comparative approach, which directly compares the effects of parental education and household income on several cognitive outcomes (vocabulary, language, reading and numbers) among five-year-old children and examines the extent to which inequalities in these outcomes are mediated by the home learning environment (HLE) and early childhood education (ECE). Home learning environment plays a stronger role in explaining actual vocabulary differences in Ireland while it plays a stronger role in school readiness (teacher-assessed skills) in Scotland. In both countries, use of centre-based care at 9 months and 3 years was markedly higher among the top income quintile. Centre-based care is found to play a mediating role in school readiness in Scotland. Nonetheless, the findings point to important direct effects of family background even when HLE and childcare are taken into account. The analyses point to differences in the trajectory of early skill development in the two countries, with the impact of early skill development being more marked in Scotland than Ireland. Comparative analyses of this kind thus yield important insights for policy development by highlighting potential domains (such as childcare) or timing (preschool or within-school) for intervention.

Chapter 8 examines aspects of provision for children with special educational needs and considers their inclusion within Irish mainstream education in recent years. It considers how much of the education and care of children with special needs in the early decades of the 20th century was provided by religious orders before going on to discuss how, since the early 1990s, there has been a substantial shift in focus from segregated educational provision towards a more inclusive view of special education, mainly delivered within mainstream schools. In particular, the chapter considers the proportion of children with special educational needs and variations in levels according to the background characteristics of the children in question.

Although children’s relationships with their parents and teachers contribute to their school adjustment and achievement, few studies have examined interactions between these relationships, particularly for father-child relationships. Using the Growing Up in Ireland birth cohort (N = 7507, 50.3% male), we examined child-adult relationship quality – rated by parents at age 3 and by teachers at age 5 – as predictors of teacher-rated behavioural adjustment and academic achievement at age 9 (indexed by self-reported academic self-concepts and performance on formal reading assessments). Controlling for prior levels of problem behaviours, verbal ability, and family SES, our results indicated that children’s relationships with parents and teachers showed small and comparable independent effects on school adjustment and achievement. For mothers and teachers, moderation analyses showed a cumulative risk pattern for conflictual relationships and a compensatory pattern for close relationships. Children are likely to benefit from improving closeness and reducing conflict in adult-child relationships as well as interventions that involve mothers, fathers, and teachers.

Background
Whether, and how, infant characteristics and parenting quality interact is one of developmental psychology’s key questions. However, whether specific interaction patterns replicate across cohorts or developmental outcomes is largely unknown. This study investigates whether infant characteristics and parenting quality are independent predictors (additive effects) of child outcomes or interact such that certain infants particularly suffer from poor parenting (diathesis stress), particularly benefit from good parenting (vantage sensitivity) or both (differential susceptibility).

Methods
Individual participant data from over 30,000 children from four prospective cohorts were pooled. Using a competitive-confirmatory approach of model evaluation, 16 possible permutations of infant characteristics (temperament and birthweight), parenting (maternal-reported stimulating and sensitive parenting) and later developmental outcomes (fluid and crystalised intelligence, internalising and externalising behaviour) were tested. The robustness of results was evaluated by subsequently varying analytic methods, using alternative parenting measures including observer reports and excluding covariates.

Results
AIC values in 10/16 analyses indicated infant characteristics acted independently of maternal-reported parenting for predicting developmental outcomes. Interaction patterns indicating diathesis stress (4/16), vantage sensitivity (2/16) or differential susceptibility (0/16) were rare or absent. However, diathesis-stress patterns were frequently found regarding birthweight and internalising behaviours, which were largely robust to methodological changes.

Conclusions
Developmental outcomes are more consistently explained by additive effects rather than by interaction effects.

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.

For the first time, data on children and adolescents with disabilities in Ireland are reported based on the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance Para Report Card methodology. The most recent data from the last 10 years were used in the grading process (A+ to F), and indicators with insufficient data were graded as incomplete. Of the 10 indicators from the Global Matrix Para Report Cards, grades were assigned to Overall Physical Activity (F), Organized Sport (D), Active Transport (D−), Sedentary Behaviors (D−), Family & Peers (C), School (C−), Community & Environment (B−), and Government (B). Irish disability sport organizations were invited to assess the research-led audit and provided commentary around the final grading. The contextual discussion of the grades is presented through the lens of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats with the purpose being to provide direction for the reduction of physical activity disparities among children with disabilities.

Background
Preventing child mental health problems and child obesity have been recognized as public health priorities. The aim of the present study was to examine whether being breastfed (at all or exclusively) in infancy was a predictor of mental well-being and protective against risk of obesity at age 9.

Methods
Cross-sectional data from a large, nationally representative cohort study in the Republic of Ireland was used (n = 8357). Data on breastfeeding were retrospectively recalled. Child mental well-being was assessed using a parent-completed Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Child’s height and weight were measured using scientifically calibrated instruments.

Results
Logistic regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for a wide range of potential confounding variables, being breastfed in infancy was associated with a 26% (P < 0.05) reduction in the risk of an abnormal SDQ score at 9 years. Being breastfed remained a significant predictor of child mental well-being when child obesity was controlled for, indicating that being breastfed, independent of child obesity, is a predictor of child mental well-being. The results of a second logistic regression indicated that, after controlling for a wide range of potential confounding variables, being breastfed for between 11 and 25 weeks was associated with a 36% (P < 0.05) reduction in the risk of obesity at 9 years, while being breastfed for 26 weeks or longer was associated with a 48% (P < 0.01) reduction in the risk of obesity at 9 years.

Conclusions
Breastfeeding in infancy may protect against both poor mental well-being and obesity in childhood.

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:

Introduction
Changing Perceptions and Experiences of Childhood, 1916-2016
Children and Families, Then & Now
Is Family Structure a Source of Inequality in Children’s Lives?
Parental Investment & Child Development
Inequalities in Access to Early Care and Education in Ireland
Inequalities from the Start? Children’s Integration into Primary School
Insights into the Prevalence of Special Educational Needs
The Experiences of Migrant Children in Ireland
Social Variation in Child Health & Development: A Life-course Approach
Child Access to GP Services in Ireland: Do User Fees Matter?
Anti-Social Behaviour at Age 13
Child Economic Vulnerability Dynamics in the Recession
Concluding Observations