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Pregnancy complications and childhood mental health: is the association modified by sex or adverse social circumstances? Findings from the ‘growing up in Ireland’ national infant cohort study
Specific pregnancy complications, socioeconomic position and sex have all been independently associated with child mental health outcomes, but their combined effects remain unclear. We examined whether total number of complications experienced in the pregnancy associated with mental health at 5 and…
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Poverty trajectories and child and mother well-being outcomes in Ireland: findings from an Irish prospective cohort
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 mother indicators of physic…
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Bullying Victimization as an Adverse Experience for Psychosocial Adjustment among Irish Adolescents
This study investigates the long-term effects of victimization from middle adolescence to late adolescence and early adulthood, examining emotional and behavioral problems, peer relationships, and smoking habits and sleeping difficulties. The study also explores how these outcomes can persist into e…
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Longitudinal relations between child emotional difficulties and parent-child closeness: a stability and malleability analysis using the STARTS model
Background Past empirical evidence on the longitudinal relations between emotional mental health symptoms and parent-child close relationships has produced mixed and inconclusive results. Some studies suggest a unidirectional relation, whereas other studies point toward a bidirectional association…
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The Changing Social Worlds of 13-year-olds
This study draws on data on Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Cohorts ’98 and ’08 to document changes in the lives of adolescents over the period 2011/12 to 2021/22, building on an earlier study (Smyth, 2022) which compared their experiences at nine years of age. This decade was a period of considerable s…
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Housing, Health and Happiness: How Inadequate Housing Shapes Child and Parental Wellbeing
There has been a good deal of attention in Irish policy discourse to housing supply and affordability. However, there has been less focus on the extent to which the quality of housing impacts the wellbeing of children and their parents. This study addresses this gap in knowledge by using data from G…
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The association of multidimensional household poverty with child and mother psychopathology wellbeing trajectories using a prospective longitudinal cohort in Ireland
Background The association between multidimensional household poverty (MHP) and child and mother psychopathology trajectories is not well understood. The aim of this paper is to explore this association. Methods We analysed 9241 infants and mothers recruited at 9-months (m) and 32-years (y) respecti…
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Participation in shadow education and academic performance: A comparison of upper secondary school students in Ireland and Germany
This article uses two longitudinal cohort studies (Growing Up in Ireland and the National Educational Panel Study) to examine how shadow education relates to academic performance in Ireland and Germany. Patterns of take-up of, and outcomes from, shadow education are found to reflect the particular c…
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Associations and mediating factors between adverse childhood experiences and substance use behaviours in early adulthood: A population-based longitudinal study
Background Research has demonstrated positive associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and substance use behaviours in young adults. However, many of these are based on cross-sectional data. The pathway between ACEs and substance misuse among emerging adults is also not fully unders…
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The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the wellbeing of migrant young people in Ireland
The world-wide COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted education, with school closures leading to a shift to remote learning. Existing and emerging research has shown that even a relatively short period of missed school has negative consequences for academic and social outcomes among children and…
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Factors Associated With Cocaine Use at 17 and 20 Years Old: A Longitudinal Analysis of a Nationally Representative Cohort
Purpose Despite growing concerns about trends in cocaine use, there is a shortage of longitudinal research that prospectively examines risk and protective factors associated with cocaine initiation and use in general youth populations. This study addresses this gap. Methods Growing Up in Ireland is…
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Sexual health literacy and sexual health behaviours among young adults in Ireland
Adolescence and young adulthood are critical periods in the development of healthy sexual health and relationships, as patterns of behaviour that develop during these life stages shape outcomes throughout the life course. Recent rises in notifications of certain sexually transmitted infections (STIs…