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Background
Adolescence is a critical transition point for body weight. Personality traits are associated consistently with weight and obesity risk in adulthood. We examined whether personality, particularly Conscientiousness (the tendency to be organized, disciplined, and responsible), is associated with weight outcomes between ages 13 and 17.

Methods
Data are drawn from the Growing Up in Ireland suites of studies. Parents rated their child’s personality at age 13, and trained staff measured weight and height at ages 13 and 17 (N = 4962). Logistic regression was used to predict risk of incident obesity and obesity remission between ages 13 and 17.

Results
Among children who were not in the obesity category at age 13, higher Conscientiousness was associated with lower risk of moving into the obesity category by age 17, and, among children with obesity at age 13, Conscientiousness was associated with greater likelihood of moving to the nonobesity category by age 17. These associations were independent of sociodemographic characteristics, parent body mass index, and were similar across gender. The other five-factor model personality traits were unrelated to weight outcomes.

Conclusions
Conscientiousness is one trait psychological factor implicated in weight transitions across a critical period during adolescence.

Children with disabilities experience significantly poorer socio-emotional outcomes than their peers without disabilities. However, research evidence is scarce about children with both disability and migration background, the group which this study aimed to investigate using data from a national longitudinal study. Secondary data analyses were conducted on a sample of 7290 children (weighted with missing values imputed). Significant differences in socio-emotional outcomes were found in relation to impairment status but not in relation to migration. Having an impairment and activity limitation significantly increased the likelihood of experiencing poorer socio-emotional outcomes over time. Our findings highlight a higher risk of socio-emotional problems among children with disabilities, especially among children from lower income backgrounds and with parents with lower educational attainment. These findings clearly require policy development on two fronts: to raise professional and community awareness on these issues and to strengthen the capacity of health, education and social care systems to support schools, families, and communities.

A small proportion of children experience social-emotional difficulties from early childhood onwards. Longitudinal studies with nationally representative samples are needed to identify the prevalence and the characteristics of children and families persistently experiencing these difficulties. Secondary analysis of data collected on over 7500 Irish children and with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire as the primary indicator, found that 6% of children when they were five year olds and 8% when they were nine-years, had above threshold scores that warranted further investigation. A smaller proportion—2.9% had elevated scores at both ages. Logistic regression analyses found that children with one or more developmental disabilities were up to six times more likely to have sustained difficulties. There were also significant associations with the lower education attainment of primary caregivers and the socio-economic deprivation of families. Primary caregivers and teachers reported higher conflict in their relationships with these children. Although the number of Irish children presenting with continuing social-emotional difficulties is small, they can present an ongoing and future societal cost in terms of the impact on family relations and demands placed on educational, health and social services. This study identified the children and families who are at greatest risk and for whom targeted early intervention services could be provided.

A growing number of international studies document the importance of regular school attendance. There is a consensus among authors that absenteeism has negative implications for academic achievement as well as the social development of the child and may put them at a disadvantage in terms of their position in the education and labour market. Most of the existing studies have focused on school absenteeism among adolescents with studies on poor school attendance among young children relatively rare. This paper addresses this gap in research by exploring factors that are related to school absenteeism in Irish primary schools. Drawing on a nationally representative study of nine-year-olds, it demonstrates the complexity of the issue. The findings indicate that a combination of institutional and individual factors shape patterns of poor school attendance in Irish primary schools. While the data relate to the Irish situation, the paper raises a number of issues of interest to an international audience.

Keywords
school absenteeism, primary schools, national survey, Ireland

Chapter 12 considers the prevalence of anti-social behaviour in the early teenage years in Ireland, the nature of this behaviour and the extent to which anti-social behaviour is associated with socio-economic characteristics of the family, family structure and other factors such as parenting style, the adolescent’s self-esteem and peer influences.

Objective
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between maternal obesity that is calculated 9 months after delivery and sociodemographic variables.

Study Design
A national cohort of mothers was sampled 9 months after delivery as part of the Growing Up in Ireland Study Infant Cohort. Sociodemographic and clinical details were recorded at the interview by trained fieldworkers who used validated questionnaires. Body mass index was calculated based on weight and height measurements at the postpartum interview. The unadjusted and adjusted odds of obesity were calculated for predictor variables with the use of logistic regression analysis.

Results
Of the 10,524 mothers whose cases were studied, the mean age was 31.6 ± 5.5 years, and the mean parity was 1.0 ± 1.1. The mean body mass index after delivery was 25.7 ± 5.4 kg/m2; 16.8% of the women (n = 1768) were obese. Postpartum maternal obesity levels were associated positively on univariable analyses with smoking, lower household income, African nationality, earlier completion of full-time education, gestational weight gain, lower breast-feeding duration, and increasing parity. On multivariable analysis, maternal obesity was associated with increasing parity in lower income households, but not in higher income households.

Conclusion
Public health interventions that are aimed at decreasing obesity levels after childbirth should prioritize women who are disadvantaged socioeconomically.

Keywords
maternal obesity, parity, postpartum weight

The objective of this paper is to quantify and decompose the socioeconomic gradient in childhood obesity in the Republic of Ireland. The analysis is performed using data from the first wave of the Growing Up in Ireland survey, a nationally representative survey of 8568 nine-year-old children conducted in 2007 and 2008. We estimate concentration indices to quantify the extent of the socioeconomic gradient in childhood obesity and undertake a subsequent decomposition analysis to pinpoint the key factors underpinning the observed inequalities. Overall the results confirm a strong socioeconomic gradient in childhood obesity in the Republic of Ireland. Concentration indices of obesity (CI = −0.168) and overweight/obese (CI = −0.057) show that the gradient is more pronounced in obese children, while results from the decomposition analysis suggest that the majority of the inequality in childhood obesity is explained by parental level variables. Our findings suggest that addressing childhood obesity inequalities requires coordinated policy responses at both the child and parental level.

In this paper we make use of the first and second waves of the 2008 and 1998 cohorts of the Growing Up in Ireland study, to develop a multidimensional and dynamic approach to understanding the impact on families and children in Ireland of the Great Recession. Economic vulnerability is operationalised as involving a distinctive risk profile in relation to relative income, household joblessness and economic stress. We find that the recession was associated with a significant increase in levels of economic vulnerability and changing risk profiles involving a more prominent role for economic stress for both the 2008 and 1998 cohorts. The factors affecting vulnerability outcomes were broadly similar for both cohorts. Persistent economic vulnerability was significantly associated with lone parenthood, particularly for those with more than one child, lower levels of primary care giver (PCG) education and, to a lesser extent, younger age of PCG at child’s birth, number of children and a parent leaving or dying. Similar factors were associated with transient vulnerability in the first wave but the magnitude of the effects was significantly weaker particularly in relation to lone parenthood and level of education of the PCG. For entry into vulnerability the impact of these factors was again substantially weaker than for persistent and transient vulnerability indicating a significantly greater degree of socioeconomic heterogeneity among the group that became vulnerable during the recession. The findings raise policy and political problems that go beyond those associated with catering for groups that have tended to be characterized by high dependence on social welfare.