External Publications Using GUI Data

A Tobacco-Free Future – An all-island report on tobacco, inequalities and childhood 2013 reveals declines in smoking rates among both children and pregnant women over the past decade, both North and South of the border. This report published by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland (IPH) and the TobaccoFree Research Institute Ireland (TFRI), shows that while tobacco control measures are being successful, disadvantaged children are at particular risk of tobacco-related harms.

Children growing up in disadvantaged circumstances face a number of threats to their health and development. Protecting children from the burden of tobacco related harm from both active and passive smoking is a priority action in enhancing population health and reducing health inequalities. Population health strategies on the island of Ireland are increasingly focussing on addressing the root causes of health inequality through social determinants of health approaches and through focussing on early childhood as a key period for intervention. At the same time, governments in both jurisdictions are working to enhance their approaches to effective tobacco control.

The World Health Organization considers that there are three key ‘windows of exposure’ in terms of tobacco-related harm in childhood – in the womb (associated with active or passive smoking by the mother), directly through children taking up smoking and through exposure to second hand smoke (SHS) in indoor and outdoor environments.

This report presents findings on these three windows of exposure based on a range of data sources in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The central aim of the report is to contribute to knowledge on the exposure of children to the harmful effects of tobacco smoke at various stages of their development. The findings of the report can support policy makers and service providers in their efforts to make tobacco-free childhoods a reality on the island of Ireland.

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.

The internet provides opportunities for social interactions which first occur in an online environment that can lead to meeting up in real life. However, growing concerns around safety and privacy warrant greater study of this modern-day phenomenon. Using a longitudinal dataset of approximately 4,300 20-year-olds in Ireland, this study finds one-in-three report meeting someone from online. Multiple regression reveals that females are less likely to engage in such behaviour, while the trait of ‘openness’, spending more time on the internet, being non-heterosexual, using dating apps, and being sexually active at 17 years are positively associated. Early exposure to information and communication technologies, as indicated by mobile phone ownership at 9 years, is also associated with online-to-offline encounters. A range of policy considerations are discussed, including the continued need for education in e-safety and cyber safety awareness from a young age through young adulthood, particularly for groups such as LGBT communities.

This paper presents an analysis of primary schoolchildren’s attitudes to the Irish language, Gaeilge, in the context of national policy in the Republic of Ireland. In particular, the study examines the factors (social, cultural, cognitive and organisational) that may be related to a pronounced excess in disengagement with Irish over and above general engagement with schooling. The data derives from the nine-year-old child cohort of the national longitudinal study of children, the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) survey. Unlike previous findings in relation to general engagement with school, excess disengagement with Irish is not found to be related to socio-economic or ethnic factors, factors related to teacher profile, training, self-efficacy or style or school ethos. As expected, children with less exposure to spoken Irish in school or at home are more likely to show excess disengagement with the language. Literacy activity, special education needs and school patronage are also found to be related to excess disengagement. Significant random effects indicate the importance of the individual teacher and school in the development of pupil engagement with Irish. The current study presents a timely perspective on attitudes to Irish among the younger population and possible implications for policy.

KEYWORDS: Irish language; motivation; minority languages; bilingualism; biliteracy

This study investigates the long-term effects of victimization from middle adolescence to late adolescence and early adulthood, examining emotional and behavioral problems, peer relationships, and smoking habits and sleeping difficulties. The study also explores how these outcomes can persist into early adulthood, taking into consideration early victimization experiences, gender, cognitive ability, and family social class. The total sample included 7525 participants, spanning the ages of 13, 17, and 20, from the Child Cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland study (48.9% male). The path analysis model suggests that victimization is associated with behavioral problems at age 17, and it is also linked to emotional problems and sleeping difficulties at both ages 17 and 20. Additionally, sleeping difficulties, smoking habits, and indices of emotional and behavioral adjustment exhibit some stability between ages 13 and 17, as well as 17 and 20. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors associated with occupational stress and job satisfaction among Irish primary school principals. A principal’s job has become increasingly demanding and complex in recent decades. However, there is little current research into their levels of stress and job satisfaction, particularly based on nationally representative data. In order to understand how principals perceive their job and how best to support them, new insights into factors contributing to job satisfaction and stress of school principals are warranted.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on an analysis of Growing up in Ireland data, a national representative study of nine-year-old children in Ireland. In order to explore the simultaneous impact of individual and school factors on stress and job satisfaction of principals in Irish primary schools, multivariate analysis was used. Analyses in this paper are based on responses from principals in 898 schools.

Findings
The results of the study indicate that a significant number of primary school principals in Ireland are not very satisfied and feel stressed about their job. Regression analysis revealed that job satisfaction and occupational stress were related to a complex set of personal characteristics, working conditions, school context and teacher climate.

Research limitations/implications
The data are limited to primary school principals. However, this is in itself an advantage since it allows for greater insights into variation across principals in job satisfaction and stress, holding the effect of school level constant.

Originality/value
This is the first study of its kind in the Irish context that explores the simultaneous effect of a number of factors on school principals’ stress and job satisfaction.

Keywords
Job Satisfaction, Ireland, Occupational stress, Primary schools

Background
The gold standard for categorisation of weight status is clinically measured body mass index (BMI), but this is often not practical in large epidemiological studies.

Objectives
To determine if a child’s weight perception or a mother’s perception of a child’s weight status is a viable alternative to measured height and weight in determining BMI classification. Secondary outcomes are to determine the influence of a mother’s BMI on her ability to categorise the child’s BMI and a child’s ability to recognise his/her own BMI.

Methods
Cross-sectional analysis of the growing up in Ireland cohort study, a nationally representative cohort of 8568 9-year-old children. The variables considered for this analysis are the child’s gender, BMI (International Obesity Taskforce grade derived from measured height and weight) and self-perceived weight status, and the mother’s weight perception of the child, BMI (derived from measured height and weight) and self-perceived weight status. Cohen’s weighted-kappa was used to evaluate the strength of the agreement between pairwise combinations of the BMI variables. Cumulative and adjacent categories logistic regression were used to predict how likely a person rates themselves as under, normal or overweight, based on explanatory variables.

Results
Mothers are more accurate at correctly classifying their child’s BMI (κ=0.5; confidence intervals (CI) 0.38–0.51) than the children themselves (κ=0.25; CI 0.23–0.26). Overweight mothers are better raters of their child’s BMI (κ=0.51; CI 0.49–0.54), compared with normal (κ=0.44; CI 0.41–0.47) or underweight mothers (κ=0.4; CI 0.22–0.58), regardless of whether the mother’s BMI is derived from measured height and weight or self-perceived. The mother’s perception of the child’s weight status is not an influencing factor on the child’s ability to correctly classify him/herself, but the child’s self-perceived weight status influences the mother’s ability to correctly classify the child.

Conclusions
A mother’s BMI classification of her child is a viable alternative to BMI measurement in large epidemiological studies.

Objective
To examine the extent to which early child nutrition, maternal antenatal lifestyle behaviours and child diet and lifestyle explain social class inequalities in the risk of rapid weight gain between birth and 3 years and obesity at age 3 years.

Design
A longitudinal and prospective birth cohort study.

Subjects
Nationally representative sample of 11 134 children and their parents followed from 9 months of age until 3 years. Child weight and maternal height and weight were measured at 9 months and 3 years and child birth weight was extracted from hospital records. Other predictors of child growth and obesity were collected by maternal report at 9 months and 3 years.

Results
Although born lighter on average, children of unskilled manual parents were 274 g heavier than children of professional parents by 3 years of age. The fully adjusted model of rapid growth from birth to 3 years of age and obesity at 3 years of age accounted for all social class differentials. Breastfeeding and age at the introduction of solids were associated with the largest average reduction (41%) in the odds ratio (OR) of rapid growth in the first 9 months of life for each class relative to the professional class. In the period from 9 months to 3 years of age, the class differential in rapid growth was reduced most by measures of the child’s diet and lifestyle. However, the impact of the groups of predictors varied by social class. For early life growth, among the non-manual classes the proportionate reductions are largest when adjusted for early infant nutrition, whereas maternal prenatal smoking is more important for the manual social classes.

Conclusion
Preventative interventions to reduce levels of childhood obesity should be multi-dimensional but different dimensions should be given more or less significance depending on socio-economic group.

Background
Public health policies attempt to increase parental identification of child overweight and obesity. The objective of the present research was to determine the cross-sectional, prospective and longitudinal associations between parental identification of child overweight and child mental health problems.

Methods
We made use of two cohort studies of Australian (Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, LSAC) and Irish children (Growing up in Ireland Study, GUI) that measured parental identification of child overweight and child mental health problems. Participant included 6502 (LSAC) and 7503 (GUI) children (49% female) and their parents. Child mental health problems were measured using child, parent and teacher-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQ) at ages 9/10 years old to 12/13 years old. In all analyses we controlled for child Z-BMI.

Results
In LSAC children whose parents identified them as being overweight at age 10 experienced worse mental health at age 10 (β = 0.21, SE = 0.04) and age 12 (β = 0.13, SE = 0.04) than children whose parents failed to identify them as overweight. In GUI children whose parents identified them as being overweight at age 9 experienced worse mental health at age 9 (β = 0.20, SE = 0.04) and age 13 (β = 0.22, SE = 0.04). In LSAC parental identification of child overweight at age 10 did not significantly predict changes in mental health problems from age 10 to 12 (β = −0.02, SE = 0.03). In GUI parental identification of child overweight was predictive of increases in mental health problems from age 9 to 13 (β = 0.08, SE = 0.03).

Conclusions
Parental identification of child overweight and obesity is associated with worse child mental health, independent of child body weight. Parents should be aware of the potential stigma and mental health difficulties associated with labelling a child as overweight.

The present study investigated the home learning environment of three to five-year-old children (n = 429) living in an area designated as socio-economically disadvantaged, involved in the Area Based Childhood (ABC) programme, compared to a nationally representative sample of three-year-old children (n = 9793), from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Study. Statistical analysis of the frequency of engagement in home learning activities across both samples, revealed a significant difference in the environments to which children are exposed, with families from the GUI sample engaging more frequently in these activities than families from the ABC sample. Among the family demographic factors investigated, parent’s age and household type were significantly related to the frequency of engagement in home learning activities. Based on these findings, policy and practice implications are discussed.

Keywords
home learning environment, socio-economic disadvantage, family demographics, early childhood development

Whether school composition makes a difference for student outcomes has been the subject of much controversy. This article draws on Growing Up in Ireland data, a rich source of information on nine-year-old children along with the characteristics of their school and classroom teacher. In contrast to many studies which rely on a single measure of social background, the use of a range of measures (including social class, parental education and income) allows us to provide precise estimates of differences in performance between schools designated as disadvantaged and other schools. The analyses also provide new insights into the processes underlying such differences. Only the most disadvantaged schools, those in Urban Band 1, are found to have a contextual effect for both reading and mathematics. This achievement gap is found to reflect differences in teacher experience and turnover, the concentration of additional learning needs, absenteeism levels and children’s engagement in school.

Keywords
school social mix, primary education, academic performance

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
SEN identification, gender, social background, teacher characteristics, school context

A small minority of Irish students attend fee-charging second-level schools. However, media analyses of the backgrounds of those students who go on to more sought-after tertiary educational institutions or degree courses suggest that a disproportionate number of them were attendees at fee-charging schools. There are a few reasons why this might be the case. In this analysis, the longitudinal data points of the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study are exploited to weigh up the evidence behind differing explanations. An estimated measure of Leaving Certificate success was generated for 3105 participants in wave 4 of the GUI. From waves 1 and 2, the ability of those participants was calculated based on their performance in several standardised tests taken prior to attending second-level school. The analysis found that while the students who attended fee-charging schools were about 9% ahead in Leaving Certificate performance, they had roughly the same lead in measured ability on entry into the second-level schools. The analysis found a significant but marginal positive effect on attending private schools. This result is in line with the general international findings. Ireland’s hybrid funding structure for fee-paying schools is discussed. Gender and household income effects were noted.

Keywords
Longitudinal data, non-state schools, ability, exam performance, school value added

This paper discusses the role of grandparents in informal childcare in Ireland. It considers how recent demographic change and government policy on childcare have the potential to place greater pressures on the provision of grandparent childcare. It illustrates research literature that has examined the prevalence and intensity of grandparent care, factors influencing such care, and the role and needs of grandparents in childcare. We argue that there are significant gaps in Irish research evidence about the extent of, role and needs of grandparents as childcarers and outline a data and research agenda that builds on previous research in this area.

Keywords
Childcare, Policy, Grandparents, Intergenerational

The Growing Up in Ireland Infant Cohort dataset (n = 11,134) includes information on fertility treatments for over 400 infants. IVF (28.1 %) and IVF-related treatments (17.8 %) were the most frequent, but there was also a high percentage following clomiphene citrate alone (31.5 %). Infants born following fertility treatment were much more likely to be in higher income families, and this relationship was not accounted for by older mothers in wealthier families. Analysis of fertility-treatment pregnancies among Irish infants, controlling for income and maternal age, shows a greater risk of multiple birth and low birth-weight, although the latter appears to be largely related to the former especially for IVF-type treatments.

Background
The incidence and prevalence of childhood chronic disease is increasing worldwide. Obesity, poor diet and lifestyle may be more prevalent in children with a chronic disease than in their healthier contemporaries. The Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study is a nationally representative cohort study of children living in the Republic of Ireland. The study has collected information from 8568 9-year-old Irish children on their experiences within their families, childcare settings, schools and communities, and how these impact on all aspects of children’s development.

Aims
This study aims to establish the prevalence of parentally reported chronic disease in children in Ireland and to describe their diet and lifestyle.

Methods
This study analyzed data from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal child cohort study and compared the diet, lifestyle and prevalence of obesity in children with and without a parentally reported chronic disease.

Results
Overall, 954 parents in the sample (11.1%) reported that their child had a chronic illness and 43.4% of these children are hampered by it in their daily activities. Respiratory disorders were the commonest type of chronic disease (46%) reported. Children with a chronic illness were more likely to be overweight or obese (32.9% compared to 25.0% of those without a chronic illness, p < 0.001). Children with chronic illness were also found to have a poorer diet, take less exercise and experienced significantly more social isolation than their peers (all p < 0.05).

Conclusions
Public health measures to address diet and lifestyle choices need to be cognisant of the needs of children with chronic diseases and tailor activities offered to be inclusive of all children. Medical professionals having contact with children with chronic conditions need to remember to reinforce the importance of diet and lifestyle whenever possible and to explore with families solutions to barriers to making healthy diet and lifestyle choices.