External Publications Using GUI Data

Participation in sporting, cultural and community activities can have significant emotional, physical and social benefits for children. A small literature now exists exploring the factors that promote or inhibit children’s participation in these activities. This paper adds to the literature using a large child-based dataset collected in Ireland, the Growing Up in Ireland dataset. The paper investigates the role of minority status as a barrier to child participation in a range of activities. Minority status in this paper is characterised as being non-Irish born, non-Roman Catholic, or having a family member in receipt of some form of social welfare. The association between such characteristics and child participation in sporting, cultural and community activities is examined using multivariate analyses. The results highlight that these factors are associated with lower participation in structured activities though the impact varies according to activity and minority grouping. The implications of the findings for policy are discussed.

Background
There is limited knowledge of the extent of or factors underlying inequalities in uptake of childhood vaccination in Ireland. This paper aims to measure and decompose socioeconomic inequalities in childhood vaccination in the Republic of Ireland.

Methods
The analysis was performed using data from the first wave of the Growing Up in Ireland survey, a nationally representative survey of the carers of over 11,000 nine-month old babies collected in 2008 and 2009. Multivariate analysis was conducted to explore the child and parental factors, including socioeconomic factors that were associated with non-vaccination of children. A concentration index was calculated to measure inequality in childhood vaccination. Subsequent decomposition analysis identified key factors underpinning observed inequalities.

Results
Overall the results confirm a strong socioeconomic gradient in childhood vaccination in the Republic of Ireland. Concentration indices of vaccination (CI = −0.19) show a substantial pro-rich gradient. Results from the decomposition analysis suggest that a substantial proportion of the inequality is explained by household level variables such as socioeconomic status, household structure, income and entitlement to publicly funded care (29.9%, 24% 30.6% and 12.9% respectively). Substantial differences are also observed between children of Irish mothers and immigrant mothers from developing countries.

Conclusions
Vaccination was less likely in lower than in higher income households. Access to publicly funded services was an important factor in explaining inequalities.

Early nutrition plays a pivotal role in long-term health. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life, with the gradual introduction of solids after this period. However, studies in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) have shown poor compliance with guidelines. The ROI continues to have one of the lowest breastfeeding rates worldwide. Our objective was to analyse differences in breastfeeding and complimentary feeding behaviours between Irish and non-Irish mothers residing in the ROI, as well as the role of acculturation on these behaviours, using the national longitudinal study, Growing Up in Ireland (GUI). Mothers (n = 11,134) residing in the ROI were interviewed when their infants were nine months of age. The percentage of Irish mothers who initiated breastfeeding was 49.5%, as opposed to 88.1% among the non-Irish cohort (p < 0.001). Breastfeeding initiation reduced from 89.4% of non-Irish mothers who had arrived within the last year to five years ago to 67.5% for those who had arrived 11 to >20 years ago (p < 0.001). Our results indicate that cultural differences are an important factor in shaping patterns of infant feeding in the ROI. Reviewing existing support and education policies for parents is required to achieve the implementation of desirable infant feeding practices.

Keywords: infant feeding; breastfeeding; complimentary feeding; acculturation

Internationally and in Ireland, much of the research around gender and educational engagement has centred on the academic differences between boys and girls (Warrington and Younger 2000; Francis 2009; O’Connor 2007). Less is known however about the factors shaping affective school engagement and student self-concept and how this can affect participation in learning. Children and young people emphasise the affective or emotional as much as the learning aspects of school life (Alexander 2008). Drawing on data from the 9-year cohort of the Growing Up in Ireland study, this paper examines self-concept among boys and girls in Irish primary schools. The findings show important differences in terms of the affective elements of school engagement, with boys more likely than girls to score significantly lower levels on measures of ‘good’ behaviour and intellectual school status, while girls score significantly lower on freedom from anxiety than boys. The findings also illustrate that predictors of disengagement are about more than the child’s gender – in that working class children and students with special educational needs are faring less well in terms of affective engagement in school.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that poor physical health and depression are highly co-morbid. To date, however, no study has considered whether depression in parents caring for children with developmental disabilities is partly driven by poor physical health. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland national cohort study (2006 to date), 627 parents of children with developmental disabilities were compared with 7941 parents of typically developing children on scores from the Centre for Epidemiological Depression Scale, chronic health conditions, socio-demographic and child behavioural characteristics. Having a child with disabilities was associated with a higher risk of depression (odds ratio (OR) = 1.83, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.43, 2.35) compared to parents of typically developing children. Adjusting for the presence of chronic health conditions accounted for some of this excess risk (OR = 1.77, 95% CI: 1.38, 2.27). The association between having a child with disabilities and increased risk of depression was explained, however, by adjusting for the child problem behaviours (OR = 1.07, 95% CI: 0.81, 1.43). This study has confirmed, in a population-based sample, the high risk of depression in parents caring for children with developmental disabilities after adjusting for the presence of a chronic health condition. Importantly, given that poor mental health in these parents is associated with a battery of negative health and social family outcomes, it is imperative that health professionals pay attention to the mental health needs of these parents.

A large body of international literature has documented a correlation between nontraditional family structure and poorer child outcomes, yet researchers continue to disagree as to whether the association represents a true causal effect. This article extends this literature by employing propensity score matching using the first wave of data from the Growing up in Ireland child cohort study. We argue that the Irish case is of particular interest given the highly selective nature of non-marriage. We find that, on average, non-marriage has negative effects on a child educational development at age 9 but the effects are smaller in relation to health outcomes and the child’s self-concept. However, selection effects account for a non-trivial proportion of the differences in child outcomes across lone-mother and cohabiting families although hidden bias remains an important issue. This has important implications for policies which promote marriage as the key to child development as it appears that much of the benefits of marriage are not related to marriage per se but to the socio-economic background of mothers.

The prevalence of obesity in children is rapidly rising, leading to many serious consequences worldwide. In 2005, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe issued recommendations and guidelines for regular collection of data on weight, height, and waist and hip circumference in children worldwide in order to monitor prevalence trends of growth, overweight and obesity. The Department of Health and the Health Service Executive commissioned the National Nutrition Surveillance Centre, based at the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science in University College Dublin, to carry out this surveillance work in the Republic of Ireland.

This report presents the findings from three waves of the WHO Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative survey in the Republic of Ireland in 2008, 2010 and 2012. In 2008, 163 randomly selected primary schools participated in this project and in the first round the protocol as set out by the WHO for participating countries was followed. The target age was children aged exactly 7 years. In the subsequent two waves, the same WHO protocol was followed and the same schools were contacted again and this time, as well as 7-year-olds, 9-year-olds were also selected for participation in the second round. In the third round, 7-year, 9-year, as well as 11-year-olds were included.

This means that there are three cross-sectional surveys of 7-year-old children, two cross-sectional surveys of 9-year-olds and one cross-sectional comparison group of 7-, 9- and 11-year-old children. Using a unique identifier there are also two cohort groups of the same children followed on two separate occasions from ages 7 to 9 and ages 9 to 11, respectively. In this report, we also compare the data on 9-year-old children to the findings from the Growing Up in Ireland Cohort study.

Background
Historically, breastfeeding rates in Ireland have been low compared with international averages. It has been suggested that maternal ethnicity and citizenship may influence breastfeeding rates, with ethnic minorities thought more likely to breast feed.

Aim
The aim of this study is to investigate the association among maternal citizenship, ethnicity, birthplace and breast feeding. It is hypothesised that Irish mothers (identified through Irish citizenship, self-identified Irish ethnicity or Irish birthplace) are less likely to breast feed than non-Irish mothers.

Methods
The study population of Growing Up in Ireland: the National Longitudinal Study of Children was used for this study. Analysis was restricted to 11 092 biological mother and infant pairs with a complete breastfeeding history. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate ORs and 95% CIs for breast feeding relative to maternal citizenship and ethnicity, controlling for the confounding effects of other maternal variables.

Results
Results indicated that 55.9% (6202 of 11 092) of mothers had initiated breast feeding, with only 7.9% (874 of 11 092) of mothers currently breast feeding their infant (at 9 months of age). Irish citizens (4693 of 9368, 50.0%) were significantly less likely to have initiated breast feeding compared with non-Irish citizens (1503 of 1695, 88.7%). Irish born mothers (4179 of 8627, 48.8%) were also significantly less likely to have initiated breast feeding than mothers born elsewhere (2023 of 2462, 82.2%).

Conclusions
Maternal citizenship and ethnicity appear to be the strongest influencing factors on breastfeeding initiation and duration. However, this raises a possibility that the increase in breastfeeding rates seen recently may be the result of increased immigration into Ireland, rather than the success of policy and research efforts.

Background
Independent associations between screen time (ST)/physical activity (PA) and overweight (OW)/obesity have been demonstrated but little research exists on the role of ST among sufficiently active children.

Purpose
To examine the combined influence of ST and PA on risk of OW/obesity in a nationally representative sample of 9-year-old Irish children.

Methods
The sample in this cross sectional analysis contained 8568 children. Self-report parent data were used to group children into ST and PA categories and related to OW/obesity using forced entry logistic regression.

Results
High ST (> 3 hours/day), bedroom TV and mobile phone ownership increased risk of OW/obesity in high and low active children (P < .05). Low PA (<9 bouts fortnightly) was also associated with OW/obesity. In combined analyses, OW/obesity was lowest in the reference low ST/high PA group with ORs of 1.38, 1.63, and 2.07, respectively, in the low ST/low PA, high ST/high PA, and high ST/low PA groups. Access to electronic media, low socioeconomic status, parental obesity, and not engaging in sports were all related to high ST (P < .05).

Conclusion
This study supports findings that ST is associated with OW/Obesity demonstrating this separately in high and low active children.

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.

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

This paper examines the relationship between maternal employment, childcare during infancy and the overweight status of pre-school children. Using data from the Infant Cohort of the Growing-Up in Ireland Survey, propensity score matching addresses the issue of potential selection bias, quantile regression allows the impact of both maternal employment and childcare to be examined throughout the weight distribution and multiple imputation is used to address the problem of missing data due to item non-response. The results suggest that both full-time and part-time maternal employment when a child is 9 months old increase the likelihood of being overweight at 3 years old, but only for children of mothers with higher levels of education. Informal childcare at 9 months also has harmful effects on child weight, but again only for children of more educated mothers. Quantile regression finds that the children most impacted by maternal employment are those at the upper percentiles of the weight distribution. When selection on observables is used to assess bias arising from selection on unobservables, maternal employment estimates are determined to be a lower bound, while informal childcare results could be attributed to selection bias. Overall findings are consistent with research from North America and the United Kingdom, and are in contrast to recent findings from the rest of Europe, suggesting the possible role of institutional factors.

Previous research has suggested that the children of teenage parents are at a high risk of developing both internalising and externalising behaviour disorders. The current study aimed to explore pathways through which children of teenage mothers show more externalising and internalising psychopathology than their peers whose parents were older. The present study used data from the first wave of the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ 9-year-old cohort and employed structural equation modelling to assess the explanatory value of a model informed by previous research findings. Goodness-of-fit indices indicated that many aspects of the familial environment of Irish teenage families did indeed place children at a substantial risk of problematic developmental outcomes. In particular, the results implicated the influential power of economic stability and familial conflict on the well-being of teenage families and related child outcomes, results similar to those reported in international studies.

Keywords: teenage mothers in Ireland, economic stability, externalising problems, internalising problems

This chapter presents a socioeconomic profile of childhood disability in an Irish context. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) survey, it considers a range of dimensions. These include an analysis of the associations between the childhood disability status of a household and a range of socioeconomic indicators relating to labour market outcomes, levels of parental education, social class, income and economic hardship. The chapter compares households with and without a child with a disability on the basis of these socioeconomic measures. The primary carer of a child with a disability is considerably less likely to participate in the labour market and considerably more likely to turn down work opportunities, when compared to a primary carer of a child without a disability. Parents of a child with a disability are less likely to be educated at third level and more likely to be in the lowest social class.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that obesity and depression are highly co-morbid. In a national cohort study, we examined whether parents caring for children with disabilities were more likely to be classified as obese compared to parents of children without disabilities and if obesity was associated with depressive symptoms or child behaviour characteristics. Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland National Longitudinal Study of Children (2006 to date), 627 parents of children with developmental disabilities were compared with 7941 parents of typically developing children on objectively measured levels of obesity (body mass index ≥30 kg/m2), depression, health behaviours, chronic health conditions, socio-demographic and child behavioural characteristics. Parents of children with disabilities were more likely to be classified as obese compared to control parents (24.5% vs. 19.6%, p = 0.005, Cramer’s V < 0.1). Depression was not associated with obesity. However, the odds of obesity increased with increasing child problem behaviour (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.03–1.06). Over half (57%) of obese parents caring for children with disabilities reported trying to lose weight often or very often. This study has confirmed, in a population-based sample, the high risk of obesity in parents caring for children with disabilities after adjusting for the presence of depression and other health behaviours; increasing child problem behaviours were predictive of obesity. Importantly, given the negative health correlates of obesity, it is imperative that health professionals pay attention to weight issues in these parents and support their efforts in managing these issues.