External Publications Using GUI Data

Authors	Year	Title	Link	Journal/Book
Egan, S., Beatty, C.	2020	Screen-Time and Non-Verbal Reasoning in Early Childhood: Evidence from the Growing Up in Ireland Study	Open	Children's Research Digest
With screen use becoming more prevalent at a younger age, it is important to research the possible impact screen use has on early cognitive development. The current study examines the screen use of 9001 5-year-olds and their reasoning abilities, using data from the Growing Up in Ireland study. Results show that both the amount of daily screen time, along with the type of screen activity children mostly engage in (video games, educational games, TV/video watching, or a mix of all of these activities), have an impact on 5-year-olds’ reasoning ability. Children who mostly engaged in a mix of activities for under three hours a day scored higher on a reasoning ability task than those who engaged in more than three hours of screen time, or those who engaged in an individual screen activity (e.g., television watching) rather than a mix of activities. However, the results also show screen use plays a very minor role in the development of reasoning ability. Consequently, other factors (e.g., home learning environment, parental education levels) should also be investigated when examining the role of screen use in cognitive development. The implications of these findings may therefore be of interest to parent, educators and policy-makers.
Banks, J., Shevlin, M., McCoy, S.	2012	Disproportionality in special education: identifying children with emotional behavioural difficulties in Irish primary schools	Open	European Journal of Special Needs Education
Within categories of special educational needs, emotional and behavioural difficulties have received much attention in recent years, particularly in relation to their definition and identification by parents and teachers. This paper stems from previous research which highlights how children from disadvantaged backgrounds and those attending schools designated as socio-economically disadvantaged are significantly more likely than their peers to be identified as having a special educational need of a non-normative type such as emotional behavioural difficulty (EBD). Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland study, it examines whether the EBD identified by teachers or within certain schools is matched by the child’s own performance on an internationally validated emotional and mental health measure – the Piers–Harris. Findings show that overall self-reported social emotional well-being bears a strong relationship to the probability of being identified with an EBD. However, boys, children from economically inactive and one-parent households and children attending the most disadvantaged school contexts are more likely to be identified with having an EBD, even after taking into account their social background characteristics and their scoring on the Piers–Harris measure. These findings suggest that the subjective nature of EBD identification is resulting in a disproportionate number of these children being identified with EBD. The implications of this study are explored for existing disability/SEN classification systems, school-wide intervention models and the impact on individual students labelled as EBD. Overall, the findings pose searching questions about the validity of employing SEN classification systems in deciding eligibility and types of appropriate provision.
Sohun, R., McPhail, A., MacDonncha, C.	2020	Physical activity parenting practices in Ireland: a qualitative analysis	Open	Sport, Education and Society
Worldwide, children do not meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity (PA) and a unified approach is required to increase children’s engagement in PA. Parents, are increasingly regarded as playing a key role in children’s PA behaviours. Physical activity parenting (PAP) is growing as a research field and refers to parental behaviours intended to influence children’s investment in PA. Using the perspectives of both parent and child, this research aims to identify PAP practices (positive and negative) engaged by Irish parents and to examine how PAP is embedded within a socioecological context. A purposive sample of 116 families in Ireland were included in the study. Families were stratified by social class, location, and family structure. Parents and children were interviewed and a secondary analysis of the interview data was completed. A theoretical model and conceptual framework relating to PAP guided data analysis to identify and understand parenting practices that influence children’s PA behaviour. Data was deductively analysed and key findings indicated that PAP practices of encouragement, involvement, and facilitation were positively associated with children’s engagement in structured sport activities. Co-participation was positively associated with children’s participation in unstructured PA. Mothers and fathers differed in their PA roles, with fathers engaged to a greater extent in involvement parental practices. Children from middle and higher socio-economic class families participated in a greater repertoire of structured PA and benefited from a greater diversity of PAP practices. Family context (social class, structure, size), community resources and organisational factors mediated the presence of PAP practices. Parents’ PA attributes and parents perceptions of PA attributes were less important influencers. Successful and effective engagement of parents in PA interventions is dependent on consideration of the various social contexts that are embedded in families. Keywords Physical activity parenting, physical activity, sport, children, social context
O'Brien, F., Nixon, E., Hadfield, K.	2022	Effects of preterm birth and parent–child relationships on socioemotional difficulties, verbal ability, and numerical ability among older children and young adolescents.	Open	Developmental Psychology
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.
Bohnert, M., Gracia, P.	2021	Emerging digital generations? Impacts of child digital use on mental and socioemotional well-being across two cohorts in Ireland, 2007-2018	Open	Child Indicators Research
Despite the growing body of literature on how digital technologies impact child well-being, previous research has provided little evidence on recent digital trends. This paper examines the patterns and effects of digital use on child socioemotional well-being across two cohorts of children grown up ten years apart during the ‘digital age’: the 1998 cohort (interviewed in 2007/08) and the 2008 cohort (interviewed in 2017/18). Multivariate linear regression models were conducted for these two cohorts from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, a multi-cohort longitudinal study with rich comparable data on a large sample of 9-year olds (N = 13,203). Results show that (i) in 2017/18 children were more active in digital devices and social media, while in 2007/2008 children spent more time watching TV and adopted less diversified forms of media engagement; (ii) spending more than 3 daily hours on TV/digital activities was associated with significant declines in child socioemotional well-being, while such effects were stronger in 2017/18 than in 2007/08; (iii) media engagement (but not other forms of digital engagement) was associated with moderate declines in socioemotional well-being, both in 2007/08 and in 2017/18; (iv) while children’s media and digital engagement differed by the child gender and socioeconomic background, none of these variables moderated the effects of digital use on children’s socioemotional well-being, neither in 2007/08 nor in 2017/18. Overall, the study reveals persistence, but also some important changes, in recent trends on children’s digital use and its impact on socioemotional well-being in Ireland.
McEvoy, O., Cronin, F., Brannigan, R., Stanistreet, D., Layte, R.	2022	The role of family, school and neighbourhood in explaining inequalities in physical activity trajectories between age 9 and 18	Open	SSM - Population Health
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.
Montero-Marin, J., Hinze, V., Mansfield, K., Slaghekke, Y., Blakemore, SJ., Byford, S., Dalgleish, T., Greenberg, M.T., Viner, R.M., Ukoumunne, O.C., Ford, T., Kuyken, W., and the MYRIAD Team	2023	Young People’s Mental Health Changes, Risk, and Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic	Open	JAMA network
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.
Ceatha, N., Gates, G. J., Crowley, D.	2023	LGBT+ Self-Identification Among Youth in Ireland Aged 17-18 Years: A Research Brief	Open	Population Research and Policy Review
In 2016, for the first time, a nationally representative survey of 6216 respondents, Growing Up in Ireland (GUI), included measurement of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) among young people. Irish LGBTI+ youth and inclusion strategies identified collection of SOGI data as a policy objective, prioritizing analyses of GUI. In line with policy objectives, this research brief reports previously unpublished LGBT+ self-identification for youth in Ireland from Cohort ’98 born five years after decriminalization of homosexuality, with their coming-of-age coinciding with the marriage equality referendum, and legislation providing for greater gender recognition (2015). Ten percent of youth in Ireland, at 17-18 years, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, asexual or describe their gender as other. Female youth are significantly more likely to identify as a sexual minority, and to be bisexual than their male peers. A quarter of LGBT+ youth are questioning their sexual orientation. This finding supports the inclusion of a ‘questioning’ response in surveys collecting SOGI data, and also suggests sexual orientation self-identification is a dynamic process. A small percentage identify as asexual (0.2%). Just over 1% of young people identify as transgender or describe their gender as other. As the first generation in Ireland to grow up in an environment with increased LGBT+ visibility and social acceptance, these findings of a relatively high proportion of sexual and gender minorities among young people likely reflect improved social and legal climates. The importance of publication of SOGI estimates is underscored. GUI are committed to ensuring visibility of LGBT+ youth populations in data collection. Suggestions for improved SOGI placement and phrasing will be considered in the questionnaire with Cohort ’08 at age 17, currently being drafted. The findings from these analyses will inform future policy and research. GUI offers rich possibilities for future comparative cross-cohort analyses.
Sharma, V., Cassetti, O., Winning, L., O’Sullivan, M., Crowe, M.	2023	Protocol for developing a dashboard for interactive cohort analysis of oral health-related data	Open	BMC Oral Health
Introduction: A working knowledge of data analytics is becoming increasingly important in the digital health era. Interactive dashboards are a useful, accessible format for presenting and disseminating health-related information to a wide audience. However, many oral health researchers receive minimal data visualisation and programming skills. Objectives: The objective of this protocols paper is to demonstrate the development of an analytical, interactive dashboard, using oral health-related data from multiple national cohort surveys. Methods: The flexdashboard package was used within the R Studio framework to create the structure-elements of the dashboard and interactivity was added with the Shiny package. Data sources derived from the national longitudinal study of children in Ireland and the national children’s food survey. Variables for input were selected based on their known associations with oral health. The data were aggregated using tidyverse packages such as dplyr and summarised using ggplot2 and kableExtra with specific functions created to generate bar-plots and tables. Results: The dashboard layout is structured by the YAML (YAML Ain’t Markup Language) metadata in the R Markdown document and the syntax from Flexdashboard. Survey type, wave of survey and variable selector were set as filter options. Shiny’s render functions were used to change input to automatically render code and update output. The deployed dashboard is openly accessible at https://dduh.shinyapps.io/dduh/. Examples of how to interact with the dashboard for selected oral health variables are illustrated. Conclusion: Visualisation of national child cohort data in an interactive dashboard allows viewers to dynamically explore oral health data without requiring multiple plots and tables and sharing of extensive documentation. Dashboard development requires minimal non-standard R coding and can be quickly created with open-source software.
Bradshaw, D., Creaven, A.M., Muldoon, O.T.	2021	Parental incarceration affects children’s emotional and behavioral outcomes: A longitudinal cohort study of children aged 9 to 13 years	Open	International Journal of Behavioural Development
Parental incarceration (PI) is negatively associated with emotional, educational, and psychological child outcomes. However, few studies explore potential mechanisms through which these outcomes are transmitted or the means by which prosocial outcomes might develop. This study used data from two waves of a population cohort study of children aged 9 years and followed up aged 13 years living in Ireland. Children and parents (N = 8,568) completed measures of PI, primary caregiver (PCG) depression, PCG-child relationship quality, and child behavioral adjustment. We then conducted a secondary analysis on this national longitudinal study of children in Ireland. Using sequential mediation models, we observed a mediated indirect effect of PI on prosocial outcomes via PCG depression and PCG-child relationship quality. PI at age 9 was associated with increased difficulties and reduced prosocial behavior at age 13. Additionally, PI at age 9 affected PCG depression and the PCG-child relationship quality. Additionally, child prosocial outcomes, and emotional and behavioral difficulties were less apparent where PI had a weaker effect on PCG depression and the quality of PCG-child relationship. Supports that can mitigate the impact of PI for vulnerable caregivers and children are discussed.
O'Reilly, C., Mohan, G.	2023	Parental influences on excessive Internet use among adolescents	Open	Emerald Insight
Purpose: Using longitudinal data, this study aims to provide a greater understanding as to how parenting factors, including the employment of various disciplinary techniques, during a young person's early adolescence may contribute to excessive Internet use (EIU) in later adolescence. Design/methodology/approach: Employing “Problem Behaviour” theory (PBT) as a guiding framework, this study uses data from the Growing Up in Ireland ’98 Cohort to investigate the effect of proximal and distal parental influences, measured when children were 13 years old, on symptoms of EIU in young adults at 17 or 18 years. Multiple regression models control for other child and family factors, and separate models for males and females examine sex differentials. Findings: Estimation did not find a statistically significant association between internet-specific mediation practices in early adolescence and EIU in later adolescence. However, regularly playing games or sports together is a protective factor. Parent-adolescent conflict and spending time home alone are estimated as risk factors. How parents deal with misbehaviour is a strong predictor of EIU, with the direction of association dependent upon the type and frequency of discipline employed. Practical implications: The findings are of practical significance in informing parents of modifiable aspects of their behaviour that can lead to EIU. Originality/value: The study applies a longitudinal modelling framework and considers the effect on EIU of various parental disciplinary techniques, representing a novel contribution.
D'Urso, G., Symonds, J.	2022	Developmental Cascades of Internalizing and Externalizing Problems from Infancy to Middle Childhood: Longitudinal Associations with Bullying and Victimization	Open	Journal of School Violence
The current study investigates how internalizing and externalizing problems develop reciprocally across infancy to middle childhood, in relation to children’s gender, cognitive functioning, socioeconomic status, and parental stress. The study also examines the impact of the developmental cascade of internalizing and externalizing problems on bullying and victimization in middle childhood. The total sample comprised 11,134 participants studied across 9-months, 3-years, 5-years, 7/8-years and 9-years of age, from the Infant Cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland study (50.6% male). Using structural equation modeling, we discovered that externalizing problems predicted internalizing problems across time for both genders. However, internalizing problems predicted externalizing problems consistently across time for girls and not for boys. Furthermore, girls’ internalizing and externalizing problems were much more strongly predicted by socioeconomic status than boys’ problems were, suggesting a greater sensitivity to context for girls. Bullying in middle childhood was predicted by cognitive ability for both genders, and by externalizing problems for boys. In comparison, victimization was predicted by externalizing and internalizing problems for both genders. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Duggan, B., Mohan, G.	2022	A Longitudinal Examination of Young People's Gambling Behaviours and Participation in Team Sports	Open	Journal of Gambling Studies
This paper develops and expands upon social identity theory as an explanation for gambling among youth engaged in team sport. Analysing longitudinal data for over 4500 20-year-olds from the Growing Up in Ireland study, reveals that online gambling increased from 2.6 to 9.3% between 17 and 20 years in the cohort, with the increase driven by males. A statistically significant positive association is uncovered between playing team sports and regularly gambling, as well as online gambling behaviour, independent of socio-demographic and other risk factors for males but not for females. The findings provide support for a dose–response like effect for males, where a longer period of participation in team sports is associated with a higher likelihood of engaging in gambling behaviour compared to shorter periods. Implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed.
Carroll, E., Keyu, Y., McCoy, S.	2022	Educationally maintained inequality? The role of risk factors and resilience at 9, 13 and 17 in disabled young people's post-school pathways at 20	Open	Irish Educational Studies
While Ireland has the highest level of participation in higher education (HE) in Europe, it also has one of the widest participation gaps between disabled and non-disabled young people. Using a large-scale longitudinal dataset, we assess how disabled young people compare with non-disabled peers in accessing a range of post-school educational pathways. Extending the effectively maintained inequality perspective to disability research, our results highlight important qualitative differences in disabled people’s trajectories. Ultimately, we find greater progression to Further Education and Training, and lower participation in Level 8 degrees in universities, all else being equal. Entry to HE is lower among those with socio-emotional difficulties, even after controlling for key characteristics, while attendance among young people with an intellectual disability or specific learning difficulty is mediated by academic performance. The results highlight the importance of school attendance, engagement and achievement during the primary and early secondary years, and parental expectations, raising important implications for inclusive education. The multiple challenges facing disabled young people in Ireland are evident, reflecting the direct and indirect impact of socio-economic disadvantage, at family, school and community levels. Stronger linkages across the tertiary landscape and stronger HE transition supports, particularly for young adults with socio-emotional/psychological difficulties, are needed.

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