External Publications Using GUI Data
Authors | Year | Title | Link | Journal/Book ↑ | Abstract |
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Crowe, M., Sullivan, A., McGrath, C., Cassetti, O., Swords, L., O'Sullivan, M. | 2017 | Early Childhoof Dental Problems: Classification Tree Analyses | Open | JDR Clinical and Translational Research | |
Investigations into the wider bioecological understanding of dental problems in early childhood are limited in national surveys. Classification tree analysis (CTA) was used to explore multilevel interactions among key aspects of child and primary caregiver (PCG) psychosocial and physical health affecting dental problems in preschool children. Data were derived from the Growing Up in Ireland study, a nationally representative sample of 9-mo-olds (N = 11,134) in 2007/2008 followed up at age 3 y (N = 9,793) in 2010/2011. Analysis included PCG reports of children’s dental problems, general health, temperament, emotional and behavioral difficulties, and their own general health, stress and depression, relationship, and sociodemographic variables. Misclassification costs were specified for the model by applying a higher penalty for misclassifying those with a dental problem (minority class). Logistic regression analyses were carried out for comparison. Dental problems were reported among 302 infants (2.7%) at 9 mo of age and 493 children (5.0%) at 3 y. CTA identified infant temperament (Infant Characteristics Questionnaire unpredictable) as the primary predictor of dental problems at 9 mo and child global health at 3 y of age. First-level predictors were PCG depression score and use of a soother at 9 mo and PCG ethnicity and unscheduled hospital visits at 3 y of age. Regression analyses results supported the most important predictors at 9 mo and 3 y of age. The CTA model for 9-mo-old infants had a specificity of 90.4%, sensitivity of 31.2%, and overall accuracy of 88.8% while that for 3-y-olds had a specificity of 58.5%, sensitivity of 66%, and overall accuracy of 59%. Key aspects of infant/child and PCG health, as well as psychosocial characteristics associated with reported dental problems, should be considered in future multidisciplinary approaches to child health. Knowledge Transfer Statement: The results of this data analysis should help raise awareness among clinicians of how primary caregiver and child psychosocial and general health factors are associated with early childhood dental problems, even before the primary dentition is complete. Classification tree analysis visually demonstrates how factors such as infant temperament (9 mo) and child global health (3 y) can interact at multiple levels and affect different subgroups of the child population. Future intervention strategies for oral health should involve consideration of the psychological and general health characteristics of the young child and PCG at both the patient and population levels. This knowledge could assist decision makers adopt an integrated multidisciplinary approach in formulating a coherent oral health policy for preschool children. | |||||
McCrory, C., Layte, R. | 2012 | Prenatal exposure to maternal smoking and childhood behavioural problems: a quasi-experimental approach. | Open | Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology | |
This retrospective cross-sectional paper examines the relationship between maternal smoking during pregnancy and children’s behavioural problems at 9 years of age independent of a wide range of possible confounders. The final sample comprised 7,505 nine-year-old school children participating in the first wave of the Growing Up in Ireland study. The children were selected through the Irish national school system using a 2-stage sampling method and were representative of the nine-year population. Information on maternal smoking during pregnancy was obtained retrospectively at 9 years of age via parental recall and children’s behavioural problems were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire across separate parent and teacher-report instruments. A quasi-experimental approach using propensity score matching was used to create treatment (smoking) and control (non-smoking) groups which did not differ significantly in their propensity to smoke in terms of 16 observed characteristics. After matching on the propensity score, children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were 3.5 % (p < 0.001) and 3.4 % (p < 0.001) more likely to score in the problematic range on the SDQ total difficulties index according to parent and teacher-report respectively. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was more strongly associated with externalising than internalising behavioural problems. Analysis of the dose–response relationship showed that the differential between matched treatment and control groups increased with level of maternal smoking. Given that smoking is a modifiable risk factor, the promotion of successful cessation in pregnancy may prevent potentially adverse long-term consequences. | |||||
Healy, C., Coughlan, H., Clarke, M., Kelleher, I., Cannon, M. | 2020 | What mediates the longitudinal relationship between psychotic experiences and psychopathology? | Open | Journal of Abnormal Psychology | |
Psychotic experiences (PEs) are common in early adolescence and are associated with nonpsychotic psychopathology. However, not all adolescents with PEs have subsequent psychopathology, and vice versa. To date, factors mediating the relationship between PEs and psychopathology have been understudied. The aims of this study were to investigate the bidirectional relationship between PEs and psychopathology in adolescence and to investigate potentially malleable mediators of these relationships. Data from 2 waves (age 13 and 17 years) of Cohort ’98 of the Growing Up in Ireland study were examined (n = 6,206). Using KHB pathway decomposition, we investigated the following as potential mediators of the relationship between psychopathology and PEs: parent-child relationship (conflict and positive), self-concept, and child-peer relationship (alienation and trust). Supplementary counterfactual mediation and sensitivity analyses were conducted. Early adolescents with psychopathology had twofold increased odds of late adolescent PEs (internalizing problems: odds ratio [OR] = 2.03, 95% confidence interval [CI; 1.56, 2.62]; externalizing problems: OR = 1.99, CI [1.51, 2.60]). Parent-child conflict explained between 23% and 34% of the associations between internalizing and externalizing problems and subsequent PEs. Early adolescents with PEs had increased odds of late adolescent psychopathology (internalizing problems: OR = 2.01, CI [1.61, 2.50]; externalizing problems: OR = 1.70, CI [1.25, 2.31]). Self-concept alone accounted for 52% of the relationship between PEs and subsequent internalizing problems. There is a bidirectional heterotypic relationship between psychopathology and PEs. Parent-child conflict and self-concept are important characteristics that mediate a proportion of the relationship between PEs and psychopathology. Interventions targeting parent-child conflict in the context of psychopathology and self-concept in the context of PEs may assist in reducing the incidence of poorer outcomes. | |||||
Bohnert, M., Gracia, P. | 2023 | Digital use and socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent well‐being: Longitudinal evidence on socioemotional and educational outcomes | Open | Journal of Adolescence | |
Introduction Methods Results Conclusions | |||||
Brennan, M., Cavallaro, M., Mongan, D., Doyle, A., Millar, S., Zgaga, L., Smyth, B., Nixon, E., Ivors, J., Galvin, B., Walsh, C., McCrory, C., McCarthy, N. | 2025 | Factors Associated With Cocaine Use at 17 and 20 Years Old: A Longitudinal Analysis of a Nationally Representative Cohort | Open | Journal of Adolescent Health | |
Purpose Methods Results Discussion | |||||
McEvoy, D., Brannigan, R., Walsh, C., Arensman, E., Clarke, M. | 2024 | Identifying high-risk subgroups for self-harm in adolescents and young adults: A longitudinal latent class analysis of risk factors | Open | Journal of Affective Disorders | |
Background Methods Results Conclusions | |||||
Dempsey, C., Devine, R., Symonds, J., Sloan, S., Hughes, C. | 2024 | Interacting adult-child relationships and school adjustment: Findings from growing up in Ireland | Open | Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology | |
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. | |||||
Madden, D. | 2013 | The relationship between low birth weight and socioeconomic status in Ireland. | Open | Journal Of Biosocial Science | |
There is now fairly substantial evidence of a socioeconomic gradient in low birth weight for developed countries. The standard summary statistic for this gradient is the concentration index. Using data from the recently published Growing Up in Ireland survey, this paper calculates this index for low birth weight arising from preterm and intrauterine growth retardation. It also carries out a decomposition of this index for the different sources of low birth weight and finds that income inequality appears to be less important for the case of preterm births, while father’s education and local environmental conditions appear to be more relevant for intrauterine growth retardation. The application of the standard Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition also indicates that the socioeconomic gradient for low birth weight appears to arise owing to different characteristics between rich and poor, and not because the impact of any given characteristic on low birth weight differs between rich and poor. | |||||
Conica, M., Nixon, E., Quigley, J. | 2022 | Interparental Relationship Satisfaction from Nine Months to Nine Years and Children’s Socioemotional Competencies at Nine Years | Open | Journal of Child and Family Studies | |
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. | |||||
Eves, R., Nearchou, F., Wolke, D., Pluess, M., Lemola, S. | 2025 | Interactions between infant characteristics and parenting factors rarely replicate across cohorts and developmental domains | Open | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry | |
Background Methods Results Conclusions | |||||
Healy, C., Coughlan, H., Williams, J., Clarke, M., Kelleher, I., Cannon, M. | 2019 | Changes in the self-concept and risk of psychotic experiences in adolescence: a longitudinal population based cohort study | Open | Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry | |
Background We aimed to investigate: (a) the relationship between child and adolescent self-concept and adolescent PEs; and (b) whether changes in self-concept between childhood and adolescence were associated with risk of adolescent PEs. Method Results Conclusions | |||||
Dempsey, S., Lyons, S., McCoy, S. | 2020 | Early mobile phone ownership: influencing the wellbeing of girls and boys in Ireland? | Open | Journal of Children and Media | |
Children live in a technology-mediated world, and most young people use a variety of technologies in their daily lives. However, despite intense public discourse, we have little empirical evidence on how technology use impacts on children’s development across a number of psycho-social domains. Research that has been conducted tends to be largely small-scale or cross-sectional in nature and most often focused on (young) adults rather than children. Using longitudinal data on one-in-eight Irish children, we use econometric methods to test for associations between early mobile phone ownership and two measures of children’s psycho-social development between 9 and 13 years of age. We examine the Piers Harris Self-Concept Scale, reported by children, and the Strengths and Difficulties (SDQ) score, completed by the primary caregiver. We find no generalised associations between early mobile phone ownership and psycho-social outcomes. However, there is evidence that associations differ by gender and across psycho-social sub-domains. We find no robust associations affecting boys, but girls who receive phones earlier fare less well in terms of their behavioural adjustment and academic self-concept scores at 13 years of age, all else being equal. Further research is needed to identify causal mechanisms and explore possible mediating effects of family/social context. KEYWORDS: Mobile phone ownership; psychological adjustment; self-concept; gender; longitudinal data; Piers Harris; SDQ | |||||
Reulbach, U., O'Dowd, T., McCrory, C., Layte, R. | 2010 | Chronic illness and emotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties in Irish children. | Open | Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health | |
Objective Methods Results Conclusions | |||||
Keane, E., Perry, C.P., Kearney, P.M., Harrington, J.M., Perry, I.J., Cullinan, J., Layte, R. | 2015 | Childhood obesity, dietary quality and the role of the local food environment: cross-sectional analysis from the growing up in Ireland study | Open | Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health | |
Background Methods Results Conclusion | |||||
O’Driscoll, D.J., Kiely, E., O'Keeffe, L.M., Khashan, A.S. | 2024 | Poverty trajectories and child and mother well-being outcomes in Ireland: findings from an Irish prospective cohort | Open | Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health | |
Background Objective Methods Results Conclusions | |||||
Ladewig, E.L., Hayes, C., Browne, J., Layte, R., Reulbach, U. | 2014 | The influence of ethnicity on breastfeeding rates in Ireland: a cross-sectional study | Open | Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health | |
Background Aim Methods Results Conclusions | |||||
Hoyne, C., Egan, S. M. | 2022 | ABCs and 123s: A large birth cohort study examining the role of the home learning environment in early cognitive development | Open | Journal of Experimental Child Psychology | |
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. | |||||
Hadfield, K., Nixon, E. | 2013 | Including those that exclude themselves: Comparisons of self-identifying and non-self-identifying stepfamilies. | Open | Journal of Family Studies. | |
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 | |||||
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. | |||||
Nicholson, E., Doherty, E., Guerin, S., Schreiber, J., Barrett, M., McAuliffe, E. | 2022 | Healthcare utilisation and unmet health needs in children with intellectual disability: a propensity score matching approach using longitudinal cohort data | Open | Journal of Intellectual Disability Research | |
Background Methods Results Conclusions |