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…

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…

This study examined the role of neighbourhood characteristics in explaining socioeconomic inequalities in child mental health (the total difficulties score from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) using data from Cohort ’08 of Growing Up in Ireland Waves 3 (age 5; baseline) and 5 (age 9; f…

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 (…

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 exami…

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 ef…

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 explor…

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 G…

Care is fundamental to the fabric of social relationships and a significant proportion of the adult population is engaged in regular care for children and/or adults with illnesses or disabilities. Increasing attention internationally is being paid to the role of young carers (those under 18) and you…

Background: Regulatory problems in infancy are associated with internalizing and externalizing symptom trajectories across childhood. It is unknown whether early screen media exposure exacerbates the association between infant regulatory problems and childhood internalizing and externalizing symptom…

The Irish education system is undergoing significant change as it navigates the challenges of the 2020s. Schools are at the frontline of Ireland’s efforts to integrate migrant families, build an inclusive society and tackle generational socioeconomic inequality. They are also, increasingly, key site…

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…