External Publications Using GUI Data

Background
Physical activity (PA) can reduce young peoples’ risk of depressive symptoms. Associations between PA and depressive symptoms are often investigated over timeframes spanning minutes to weeks. Less is known about whether childhood/adolescent PA can predict depressive symptoms in early adulthood.

Methods
Using a nationally representative sample from Ireland, latent growth mixture modelling was performed to investigate the extent to which different PA trajectories existed from ages 9–17, whether gender, weight status, and socio-economic deprivation at age 9, predicted PA trajectories from ages 9–17, and whether trajectory class membership predicted depressive symptoms at age 20.

Results
A 4-class solution was the best fit to the data (AIC = 52 175.69; BIC = 52 302.69; ssaBIC = 52 245.49; entropy = 1.00). Classes were labelled according to their baseline PA and slope of their trajectory: ‘High-Decreasers’; ‘Moderate-Decreasers’; ‘Moderate-Stable’; and ‘Low-Increasers’. A negative linear association existed between activity trajectory and the likelihood class members were female, overweight or socioeconomically deprived at age 9. The most active class (High-Decreasers) were significantly less likely to report depressive symptoms at age 20 than other classes.

Conclusions
Multiple PA trajectories exist throughout childhood and adolescence although differences in PA levels reduced over time. The most/least active children continued to be the most/least active throughout adolescence. Those most active were least at risk of depressive symptoms in early adulthood. Being female, overweight or experiencing deprivation at age 9 were all risk factors for inactivity throughout adolescence. Findings have implications for public health and PA promotion in young people

This chapters addresses digital inequalities in young people’s daily lives and well-being. The chapter examines how adolescents’ digital engagement differs across family socioeconomic status (SES) and gender, and how it relates to their mental health outcomes. Analyses use longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Ireland study from age 9 to 18, combined with cross-national data from the Health Behaviour in School-Aged survey on adolescents aged 11-15 across 35 industrialised countries. Longitudinal analyses reveal that low-SES adolescents and girls experience higher mental health problems as they increase their time using digital devices, compared to high-SES adolescents and boys. Cross-national analyses indicate that, while boys spend more time in digital activities, girls are at higher risks of experiencing mental health problems from engaging with digital activities. However, the magnitude of these gendered patterns differs markedly across national contexts. Cross-country comparisons on SES yield mixed results: in some countries low-SES adolescents are mentally more harmed by their digital engagement (i.e., Switzerland, Austria, Norway), but in other countries high-SES adolescents are those at higher mental health risks from using digital devices (i.e., Portugal, Czech Republic, Bulgaria). The chapter findings are discussed within the existing literature on digital inequalities and young people’s well-being.

Identifying the clustering and correlates of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) is very important for developing appropriate lifestyle interventions for children and adolescents. This systematic review (Prospero CRD42018094826) aimed to identify PA and SB cluster patterns and their correlates among boys and girls (0-19 years). The search was carried out in five electronic databases. Cluster characteristics were extracted in accordance with authors’ descriptions by two independent reviewers and a third resolved any disagreements. Seventeen studies met the inclusion criteria and the population age ranged from six to 18 years old. Nine, twelve, and ten cluster types were identified for mixed-sex samples, boys, and girls, respectively. While girls were in clusters characterized by “Low PA Low SB” and “Low PA High SB”, the majority of boys were in clusters defined by “High PA High SB” and “High PA Low SB”. Few associations were found between sociodemographic variables and all cluster types. Boys and girls in “High PA High SB” clusters had higher BMI and obesity in most of the tested associations. In contrast, those in the “High PA Low SB” clusters presented lower BMI, waist circumference, and overweight and obesity. Different cluster patterns of PA and SB were observed in boys and girls. However, in both sexes, a better adiposity profile was found among children and adolescents in “High PA Low SB” clusters. Our results suggest that it is not enough to increase PA to manage the adiposity correlates, it is also necessary to reduce SB in this population.

Empirical research into the relationship between economic well-being and child outcomes has been limited by its cross-sectional nature, or its narrow focus on predominantly financial aspects of economic well-being. This article attempts to overcome these shortcomings by using data from the Growing Up in Ireland Cohort98 (age: 9–17; N = 5,748; female: 51.4%) and Cohort08 studies (age: 3–9 years; N = 7,208; female: 49.8%), which cover a period of large macroeconomic fluctuation (2007–2017). This fluctuation makes a robust fixed effects analysis feasible, allowing for economic well-being effects to be isolated by controlling for all time-invariant confounders. The article uses three different measures of economic well-being (subjective financial strain, material deprivation, income) to explore how distinct forms of economic well-being affect child behavior. The results suggest that household income is not related to behavioral difficulties, whereas subjective financial strain is predictive of externalized behavioral difficulties in adolescent boys. Material deprivation is predictive of externalized behavioral difficulties in adolescent boys and internalized behavioral difficulties in younger boys, but has no effect on girls’ behavioral outcomes. The findings indicate that the relationship between economic well-being and child behavioral outcomes is complex, and requires multi-dimensional measures of economic well-being to accurately ascertain the different effects.

This study examines how the presence of outdoor areas such as parks and playgrounds affects children’s well-being and how this effect is moderated by families’ socioeconomic status. Specifically, I aim to answer two research questions. First, does the presence of outdoor areas in children’s neighborhoods affect their well-being? Second, is there a differential effect depending on children’s socioeconomic status? The main part of the study uses data from the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being. The results suggest that the presence of outdoor areas in children’s neighborhoods has a positive effect on their well-being. In addition, the estimated effect of outdoor areas is larger for children from families with low socioeconomic status. Finally, findings from the Growing Up in Ireland data set suggest that children’s mental problems are a plausible mechanism through which outdoor areas affect children’s well-being. These findings have meaningful policy implications. Efforts to provide access to appropriate outdoor areas may be more likely to benefit disadvantaged children and thus reduce inequality in children’s well-being.

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.

Little is known about the link between childhood and adolescent mental health (MH) difficulties and political outcomes in adulthood. This represents an important knowledge gap in understanding early individual-level factors for future political outcomes. Using the Growing up in Ireland cohort, following 8,568 children from nine to 20 years, we examine how different MH difficulties, and co-occurrence, are associated with various political outcomes. The results show childhood/adolescent MH difficulties are important predictors of political outcomes at age 20. Adolescents with chronic co-occurring MH difficulties starting in childhood report a lower interest in politics, lower trust in politicians, are less likely to register to vote, and if voting, are more likely to vote for an anti-establishment party. Adolescents with chronic emotional MH difficulties starting in childhood report a higher likelihood of voting for an anti-establishment party, but also show a higher probability of political activism and low external political efficacy.

Children’s parent and teacher relationships contribute to school adjustment and achievement, yet few studies have examined interactions between these relationships, particularly for father-child relationships. Using the Growing Up in Ireland birth cohort (N = 7,507 children, 50.3% male), we examined child-adult relationship quality – rated by mothers and fathers at age 3 and teachers at age 5 – as predictors of behavioural adjustment (rated by teachers) and academic achievement (formal reading assessments and self-reported academic self-concepts) at age 9. Controlling for prior levels of problem behaviours, verbal ability, and family SES, results indicated small and comparable independent effects of children’s parent and teacher relationships 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 and interventions that involve mothers, fathers, and teachers.

We analyse parental smoking and cessation (quitting) associations with teenager e-cigarette, alcohol, tobacco smoking and other drug use, and explore parental smoking as a mechanism for social reproduction. We use data from Waves 1–3 of Growing Up in Ireland (Cohort ’98). Our analytic sample consisted of n = 6,039 participants reporting in all 3 Waves. Data were collected in Waves 1 and 2 when the children were 9 and 13 years old and in Wave 3 at age 17/18 years. Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) models were used to analyse teenage substance use at Wave 3. Parental smoking was associated with significantly increased risk of all teenage substance use, adjusted odds ratios were aOR2.13 (ever e-cigarette use); aOR1.92 (ever alcohol use); aOR1.88 (current alcohol use); aOR1.90 (ever use of other drugs); aOR2.10 (ever-smoking); and aOR1.91 (current smoking). Primary caregiver smoking cessation (quitting) was associated with a lower risk for teenager current smoking aOR0.62, ever e-cigarette use aOR 0.65 and other drug use aOR 0.57. Primary caregiver smoking behaviour had greater associations than secondary, and age13 exposure more than age 9. Habitus seems to play a role and wealth was protective for teenage smoking. The findings suggest that prevention interventions should target both caregivers and their children.

What does young adulthood look like for individuals who had mental health problems across childhood? Using the Growing Up in Ireland cohort (born in 1998 and studied from ages 9 to 20) we explored the association between mental health problems between ages 9 and 13, and subsequent poor outcomes in the same individuals at ages 17-20. We consider educational/economic outcomes, health service use, poor mental and physical health, social isolation, substance abuse, and subjective wellbeing in young adults. In a previous study that used latent class modelling, we identified four groups which captured mental health in a general population sample of children. Between ages 9 and 13, children could be grouped into: a low symptoms group (∼65%), an ‘externalising’ group with ADHD or conduct symptoms (∼20%), an ‘internalising’ group with depressive, anxiety or peer issues (∼10%), or a group showing many combined mental health symptoms (∼2%). All mental health problem groups had elevated odds across all 7 adverse outcomes in young adulthood. The 5 areas of young adult functioning most related to childhood mental health were: education/economics, subjective wellbeing, mental health, social isolation and substance abuse. Poor educational/economic outcomes were as likely as poor mental health (OR ∼ 2) in individuals with childhood psychopathology. The 3 childhood problem groups showed different risk profiles in young adulthood. For instance, the childhood internalising group had lower odds of substance abuse than all other groups, but had the highest odds of poor physical health by adulthood. Findings point to the need for a wider range of preventative supports for children and adolescents with a history of mental health problems, beyond just mental health support. These include interventions to improve physical health, treat substance abuse, reduce social isolation, and improve adverse educational and economic outcomes.

Background
Poverty is associated with poor outcomes, yet exposure to distinct poverty trajectories in early childhood is not well understood.

Objective
To understand the prevalence of different trajectories of household poverty and their association with mid-childhood and primary-parent(mother) indicators of physical health and psychopathology in Ireland.

Methods
We used a nationally representative, prospective cohort (Growing-up-in-Ireland– Infant-Cohort). Household poverty included lowest third income decile, subjective poverty and material deprivation when children were aged 9-months(m),3,5,9-years(y). We used group based multi-trajectory-cluster-modelling to classify trajectories of poverty. Using multivariate logistic regression, adjusted with separate child and mother confounders, we assessed the association of poverty trajectories from 9m to 9y with child outcomes (overweight, any longstanding illness and psychopathology) at age 9y and the same poverty trajectories over the same 9y period with mother outcomes (overweight, any longstanding illness and depression).

Results
Of 11,134 participants, four trajectories were identified: never-in-poverty (43.1%), material/subjective>monetary-poverty (16.1%), monetary>material-poverty (25.6%), and persistent-poverty (15.2%). Children in persistent-poverty compared with never in poverty experienced higher odds of being overweight at 9y (adjusted odds ratio aOR 1.70,95% CI 1.34, 2.16), having a longstanding illness (aOR 1.51,95% CI 1.20, 1.91) and psychopathology (aOR 2.06,95% CI 1.42, 2.99). The outcomes for primary parent (99.7% were mothers) had higher odds of being overweight (aOR 1.49,95% CI 1.16, 1.92), having a longstanding illness (aOR 2.13,95% CI 1.63, 2.79), and depression (aOR 3.54,95% CI 2.54, 4.94).

Conclusions
Any poverty trajectory was associated with poorer psychopathology and physical wellbeing in late childhood for children and their mothers in Ireland.

What is already known on this subject?
Poverty is understood as having both objective (e.g. low household income) and subjective dimensions (e.g., perception of being poor relative to others, poverty related anxiety). Evidence highlights the association between child poverty exposure and child and mother wellbeing outcomes.

What this study adds?
Our study examined predicted trajectories of multi-dimensional poverty and child and mother outcomes using a large national cohort. We identified that any poverty trajectory in childhood had a higher odds of being associated with poor well-being outcomes.

How this study might affect research, practice or policy?
This study highlights the need for strategies to ameliorate any poverty exposure as all poverty trajectories resulted in poorer wellbeing outcomes. Strategies should be considered to ameliorate any poverty exposure in early childhood (e.g., school based resourcing).

Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has been dubbed the “biggest public health crisis since the Second World War”. In Ireland, schools were closed for 141 days, dramatically altering the day to day lives of children in Ireland. This research aimed to evaluate the overall wellbeing of schoolchildren in Ireland and capture the prevalence and factors contributing to poor mental health.

Methods
A cross-sectional study was performed based on data from the Growing Up in Ireland COVID-19 web survey of the ’08 Infant cohort. Mental Health Inventory-5 scores were used to assess children at risk of mental health disorders. Logistic regression examined associations between various demographic and psychosocial factors and risk of mental health disorders.

Results
This study included 2,867 primary caregiver- child dyads. Almost 25% of 12/13-year-olds were at risk of mental health disorders (MHDs). An adjusted logistic regression model found associations between being at higher risk of MHDs and factors such as reduced physical activity levels (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.10-1.66), spending less time outdoors (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.18-1.85), increased screen-time (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.09-1.67) and increased arguments with PCGs (OR 3.44, 95% CI 2.78-4.27). Having a trusted adult confidante reduced the risk of MHD (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.14-0.45).

Conclusions
The prevalence of 12/13-year olds at elevated risk of MHD was high, indicating an urgent need for enhancement of child and adolescent mental health services in Ireland. Physical activity, time outdoors and supportive relationships with primary caregivers were positively associated with reduced MHD risk.

Key messages

• Children were impacted by the COVID-19 restriction measures in a way that was disproportionate to their risk.
• To reduce the risk of poor mental health outcomes for a generation of “quarantweens” we need to place children front-andcentre of our response as we recover from COVID-19.

Aims
Multiple studies have connected parenting styles to children’s internalising and externalising mental health symptoms (MHS). However, it is not clear how different parenting styles are jointly influencing the development of children’s MHS over the course of childhood. Hence, the differential effects of parenting style on population heterogeneity in the joint developmental trajectories of children’s internalising and externalising MHS were examined.

Method
A community sample of 7507 young children (ages 3, 5 and 9) from the Growing Up in Ireland cohort study was derived for further analyses. Parallel-process linear growth curve and latent growth mixture modelling were deployed.

Results
The results indicated that the linear growth model was a good approximation of children’s MHS development (CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.03). The growth mixture modelling revealed three classes of joint internalising and externalising MHS trajectories (VLMR = 92.51, p < 0.01; LMR = 682.19, p < 0.01; E = 0.86). The majority of the children (83.49%) belonged to a low-risk class best described by a decreasing trajectory of externalising symptoms and a flat low trajectory of internalising MHS. In total, 10.07% of the children belonged to a high-risk class described by high internalising and externalising MHS trajectories, whereas 6.43% of the children were probable members of a mild-risk class with slightly improving yet still elevated trajectories of MHS. Adjusting for socio-demographics, child and parental health, multinomial logistic regressions indicated that hostile parenting was a risk factor for membership in the high-risk (OR = 1.47, 95% CI 1.18–1.85) and mild-risk (OR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.21–2.04) classes. Consistent (OR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.62–0.90) parenting style was a protective factor only against membership in the mild-risk class.

Conclusions
In short, the findings suggest that a non-negligible proportion of the child population is susceptible to being at high risk for developing MHS. Moreover, a smaller proportion of children was improving but still displayed high symptoms of MHS (mild-risk). Furthermore, hostile parenting style is a substantial risk factor for increments in child MHS, whereas consistent parenting can serve as a protective factor in cases of mild-risk. Evidence-based parent training/management programmes may be needed to reduce the risk of developing MHS.

Background
There are no early, accurate, scalable methods for identifying infants at high risk of poor cognitive outcomes in childhood. We aim to develop an explainable predictive model, using machine learning and population-based cohort data, for this purpose.

Methods
Data were from 8858 participants in the Growing Up in Ireland cohort, a nationally representative study of infants and their primary caregivers (PCGs). Maternal, infant, and socioeconomic characteristics were collected at 9-months and cognitive ability measured at age 5 years. Data preprocessing, synthetic minority oversampling, and feature selection were performed prior to training a variety of machine learning models using ten-fold cross validated grid search to tune hyperparameters. Final models were tested on an unseen test set.

Results
A random forest (RF) model containing 15 participant-reported features in the first year of infant life, achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.77 for predicting low cognitive ability at age 5. This model could detect 72% of infants with low cognitive ability, with a specificity of 66%.

Conclusions
Model performance would need to be improved before consideration as a population-level screening tool. However, this is a first step towards early, individual, risk stratification to allow targeted childhood screening.

Impact
• This study is among the first to investigate whether machine learning methods can be used at a population-level to predict which infants are at high risk of low cognitive ability in childhood.
• A random forest model using 15 features which could be easily collected in the perinatal period achieved an AUROC of 0.77 for predicting low cognitive ability.
• Improved predictive performance would be required to implement this model at a population level but this may be a first step towards early, individual, risk stratification.

Background
There are few prospective studies of factors that mediate the association between exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and obesity in adolescence. Our aim was to address this limitation.

Methods
We used prospective data from the Growing up in Ireland cohort study, with measurements at 9, 13, and 18 years old. The exposures were 14 adverse experiences before age 9. The main outcome was body mass index (BMI) at 18 years. Mediators were daily activity, diet quality, self-image and behavioural difficulties at 13 years.

Results
Among the 4561 adolescents in the final cohort, 77.2% experienced any adversity, 50.5% were female and 26.7% were overweight/obese at 18 years. BMI Z was higher at ages 9 (0.54 vs 0.43, p < 0.05, 95% CI of difference: −0.22, −0.01) and 13 years (0.50 vs 0.35, p < 0.05, 95% CI of difference: −0.25, −0.06), in those exposed to an ACE, compared to those unexposed. Structural equation models revealed that behavioural difficulties (β = 0.01; 95% CI: 0.007–0.018, p < 0.001) and self-concept (β = 0.0027; 95% CI: 0.0004–0.0050, p = 0.026) indirectly mediate the association between exposure to ACEs and BMI at 18 years.

Conclusions
The association between ACEs and BMI in adolescence is mediated by behavioural difficulties and self-concept.

Impact

• In a previous study, we found modest associations between exposure to a range of adverse childhood experiences and weight gain at 13 years of age.
• The strength of the association between adverse childhood experiences and weight gain was lower at 18 years of age compared to the association observed at 13 years and was no longer significant after controlling for confounding and including possible mediators.
• The association between adverse childhood experiences and BMI in adolescence is indirectly mediated by behavioural difficulties and self-concept.

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.

Purpose
The aim of this study is to examine the association between household energy poverty (EP) and trajectories of emotional and behavioural difficulties during childhood.

Methods
The Growing up in Ireland study is two nationally representative prospective cohorts of children. The Infant Cohort (n = 11,134) were recruited at age 9 months (9 m) and followed up at 3, 5, 7 and 9 years (y). The Child Cohort (n = 8,538) were recruited at age 9 y and followed up at 13 y and 17/18 y. EP was a composite of two relative measures of EP. Emotional and behavioural difficulties were repeatedly measured using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ). Linear spline multilevel models were used, adjusted for confounders to examine the association between (1) EP (9 m or 3 y) and trajectories of emotional and behavioural difficulties from 3 to 9 y in the Infant Cohort and (2) EP at 9 y and the same trajectories from 9 to 18 y in the Child Cohort.

Results
In adjusted analyses, EP at 9 m or 3 y of age was associated with higher total difficulties score at 3 y (0.66, 95% CI 0.41, 0.91) and 5 y (0.77, 95% CI 0.48, 1.05) but not at 7 y or 9 y. EP at 9 y was associated with higher total difficulties score at 9 y (1.73, 95% CI 1.28, 2.18), with this difference reducing over time leading to 0.68 (95% CI 0.19, 1.17) at 17/18 y.

Conclusions
Our study demonstrates a potential association between early life EP and emotional and behavioural difficulties that may be transient and attenuate over time during childhood. Further studies are required to replicate these findings and to better understand if these associations are causal.

Background
The Covid pandemic arrived in Ireland on February 29, 2020. In the following weeks various restrictions were introduced to stem the spread of the disease. Anxiety over the spread of the disease and over the restrictions introduced had an adverse effect upon mental health. This study examines the change in mental health for two groups: young adults aged around 23 at the time of onset of Covid (the 1998 cohort) and a sample of principal carers (PCs) of children who were aged 13 at the onset of Covid (the 2008 cohort).

Methods
Data were obtained from the two cohorts of the longitudinal Growing Up In Ireland (GUI) survey. The sample included 1953 young adults (from the 1998 cohort) and 3547 principal carers (from the 2008 cohort). Mental health as measured by the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression—8 scale was obtained for the last pre-Covid wave and for the Covid wave (surveyed in December 2020). Observations for which CES-D8 was not available in either pre or post Covid waves were excluded. Post-Covid sampling weights were applied. The change in depression rates was decomposed into a growth and distribution effect using a Shapley decomposition. The socioeconomic gradient of CES-D8 was examined pre and post Covid using concentration indices and a transition matrix was constructed to examine the dynamics of changes in CES-D8 and depression pre and post-Covid.

Results
Relative to the last pre-Covid survey, mental health, as measured by CES-D8 deteriorated for both the young adults of the 1998 cohort and the PCs of the 2008 cohort. For young adults, the deterioration was more pronounced for females. There was no observable socioeconomic gradient for poor mental health amongst young adults, both pre and post Covid. For mothers from the 2008 cohort, a gradient was observed during the pre-COVID-19 pandemic period with poorer mental health status for lower-income and less educated mothers. This gradient was less pronounced post-Covid, the levelling-off arising from a greater deterioration in mental health for higher-income and better-educated PCs.

Conclusion
Both observed cohorts showed a significant deterioration in mental health post Covid. For young adults the effect was significantly more pronounced among females and this is consistent with generally poorer mental health amongst females in this age group. There was little or no socioeconomic gradient observed for young adults, but the gradient became more shallow for principal carers. Care must be taken in terms of drawing policy implications from this study as the Covid-19 pandemic was arguably a unique event, even allowing for the likelihood of future pandemics. However, the study highlights the vulnerability of young adults, especially females, to the mental health effects arising from major public health shocks.

This report draws on the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study to look at pornography use among over 4,500 young adults at 20 years of age. Pornography use was captured as part of a module of questions on different types of internet use. The rich information provided by the GUI study allows us to explore the potential influence of a range of factors on pornography use and to examine the way use is related to key aspects of wellbeing and sexual behaviour among young adults. Pornography use is found to be highly gendered, with 64 per cent of young men and 13 per cent of young women reporting use. For this reason, analyses in the report look separately at the factors for young women and men.

This paper assesses the role of shadow education (SE), i.e., organised learning activities outside formal schooling, in the lives of secondary school students of different social backgrounds and in different school settings, in a high-stakes context. It draws on multilevel analysis of longitudinal Growing Up in Ireland data, alongside narratives from in-depth case study research in 10 schools. Framed within a social reproduction approach, we show how access to SE as an educational resource is socially stratified, accessible to those with greater levels of family resources, and those attending schools with higher socio-economic student intakes. SE is viewed as an investment, particularly among students with average and above average levels of prior attainment, while high attaining students are less likely to use SE. Perhaps reflecting the normalisation of SE in the Irish context, students do not directly link engagement in such tuition to their socio-emotional wellbeing.