Upcoming Growing Up in Ireland Report Launches

Trends in disability prevalence among young people: Insights from the Growing Up in Ireland study

October 22nd 2024, 10.00-12.15 – Economic and Social Research Institute, Whitaker Square, Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin 2.

This in-person event will launch the report Trends in disability prevalence among young people: Insights from the Growing Up in Ireland study by Emer Smyth and Helen Russell. The event will include an overview of the report findings from the authors, followed by a panel discussion with Dr Rosalyn Tamming (NDA), Karl Duff (DCEDIY) and Brendan Doody (DoE).

Register here.

Previous Launches

Lone parent transitions, employment transitions and poverty outcomes – October 9th 2024

This report, authored by Helen Russell and Bertrand Maître and published by the ESRI, was produced in partnership with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). It was launched as part of the Growing Up in Ireland annual conference.

The study draws on the Growing Up in Ireland 08 Cohort and follows the trajectories of families over 9 years (2008-2017), from when the study child was aged 9 months to 9 years.  It considers which lone parent families are most at risk of economic vulnerability, how transitions into lone parenthood influence economic vulnerability and what factors are associated with exiting economic vulnerability. The report also investigates the factors that predict exit from economic vulnerability for lone parents.

The report is available on the ESRI website here.

 

Joint Launch: GUI Sensitive Key Findings Report & HRB GUI Drug & Alcohol Analysis Project

On June 20th 2024, the Research and Evaluation Unit in DCEDIY hosted an event marking the launch of the latest report from Growing Up in Ireland, Key Findings from the Sensitive Survey with Cohort ’08 at 13, and the latest findings from the Health Research Board project, the Growing Up in Ireland Drug and Alcohol Analysis Study. The event was launched by Minister of State at the Department of Health with special responsibility for Public Health, Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Colm Burke TD.

Growing Up in Ireland has been following the progress of over 6,000 children born in 2008 since they were babies.  In 2021/22, when these children were aged 13 years – and just emerging from the rigours of the Covid pandemic – they and their parents were interviewed on a range of topics including health, school, relationships and their general well-being.  As part of that survey, 13-year-olds and their parents self-completed some questions on the challenges of early adolescence including smoking, drinking and vaping; sex and relationship issues; bullying; mental health and family relationships.  The report – Key Findings from the Sensitive Survey with Cohort ’08 at 13 – provides a first look at what young people and parents told us about these challenging issues, and illustrates some of the patterns emerging for boys and girls, and families with more or less socio-economic advantage.

The report is now available to download here. A selection of the findings are summarised in an infographic here.

A presentation on the report by Dr Aisling Murray, senior researcher in DCEDIY, is available here.

The Health Research Board commissioned a research project to analyse the Growing up in Ireland Cohort ’98 datasets, as part of the programme of monitoring and supporting the implementation of the National Drugs Strategy. The project aims to identify core predictor variables associated with substance (alcohol and drugs) use behaviour amongst Irish adolescents, and predict the health, social, cognitive, and emotional consequences of substance use too. Ultimately, the project is intended to provide policymakers and practitioners with evidence that will enable them to identify patterns in substance use among children and young adults and design evidence-based and targeted interventions in the most appropriate settings.

The research team, led by the Discipline of Public Health and Primary Care at Trinity College Dublin, presented new findings from the project, covering drug and alcohol usage in later adolescence, and the association between adverse childhood experiences and substance use.

Growing Up in Ireland: Key findings Cohort ’08 at 13 years – July 10th 2023

The Growing Up in Ireland report; “Key Findings: Cohort ’08 at 13 years” was  launched by Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, T.D. in Miesian Plaza,  Baggot Street on the 10 July 2023.  This report is the first report in relation to the 13-year-olds in Cohort ’08 and aims to provide a snapshot of their lives in the key areas of physical health, education, socio-emotional wellbeing, and family circumstances. It is also the first report to be launched by Minister O’Gorman since Growing Up in Ireland moved to the new framework under the governance of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) and the Central Statistics Office (CSO), in January this year.

The report is now available to download here. A selection of the findings are summarised in an infographic here.

A presentation on the report by Dr Aisling Murray, senior researcher in DCEDIY, is available here.

A presentation on the CSO’s work programme for Growing Up in Ireland by Ger Doolan, Head of Social Data Collection, CSO,  is available here.

Disrupted Transitions? Young Adults and the COVID-19 Pandemic

This new report, authored by Emer Smyth and Anne Nolan, was published on the ESRI website  20 June 2022. The report, published by the ESRI and produced in partnership with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), uses data from the Growing Up in Ireland COVID-19 survey, carried out in December 2020.

The report was launched at a webinar at 12:00 PM on Monday, 20 June 2022.

Research Needs for Wave 5: Age 25 – May 25th 2022

The latest report from Growing Up in Ireland, Research Needs for Wave: Age 25, was launched by Minister Roderic O’Gorman at our Annual Conference on May 25th, 2022. This report aims to inform the nature and content of the fifth wave of data collection at 25 years of age for Cohort ’98.

The report is available here – Research Needs for Cohort ’98 at Age 25, and an associated infographic can be found here.

The Lives of 20-Year-Olds: Making the Transition to Adulthood – Dec 14th 2021

The latest report based on Cohort ’98 at age 20 was launched by DCEDIY Secretary General, Fergal Lynch,  in an online event on Tuesday, December 14th at 10am. The event was chaired by Professor Richard Layte, TCD.

The report is now available to download. A selection of findings are summarised in an infographic here.

The slides from Desmond O’Mahony’s launch presentation are available here.  A video of the event can be viewed at the link below:

Growing Up in Ireland: The Lives of 9-Year-Olds of Cohort ’08 – June 16th 2021

**Slides from the launch presentation can be found here.

**View recordings of presentations from the live event at the links below:

Launch address by Bernie McNally, Assistant Secretary General, DCEDIY

Main presentation of findings by Dr Eoin McNamara and Dr Desmond O’Mahony, ESRI

Discussant’s reflections by Prof. Trevor Spratt, TCD

This new and extensive report presents a detailed overview of being 9 years old for children born in 2008 at the dawn of the ‘Great Recession’ of 2008-2013.  Nearly a decade later, in 2017/18, these children and their families gave the Growing Up in Ireland study team a detailed report on how they were faring in areas of physical health, emotional well-being, family relationships, schooling and their current economic circumstances.

View a summary infographic here or download the full report: The Lives of 9-Year-Olds of Cohort ’08.

This report builds on previous work to paint a richly descriptive picture of that age and stage for Cohort ’08, with extended analyses of trends by household income, gender and parental education.

The report was launched by Ms Bernie McNally, Assistant Secretary General at the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.  This was followed by a presentation of highlights from the report by the authors and a response from discussant, Prof. Trevor Spratt, Professor of Childhood Research at Trinity College Dublin.

Growing Up in Ireland: Key findings from the special COVID-19 survey – March 26th 2021

On Friday March 26th, 10am, Minister Roderic O’Gorman launched the first results from the special COVID-19 survey of both Growing Up in Ireland cohorts.

The ‘Key Findings’ short report is now available to download. A one-page infographic summary is also available.

Launch videos

Minister O’Gorman’s opening address here. (5 mins)

Dr Aisling Murray’s presentation here. (25 mins)

 

Growing Up in Ireland: Social-Emotional and Behavioural Outcomes in Early Adolescence – by Elizabeth Nixon (11th March 2021)

The report is available to download here.  An infographic with some highlights from the report is also available.

You can watch a video of Dr Nixon’s presentation using this link.

This report documents the social, emotional and behavioural outcomes of the 13-years-olds in the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study and examines factors that are associated with these outcomes. The analysis is based on data collected from over seven thousand families in Cohort ’98 (Child Cohort) of Growing Up in Ireland interviewed first at Wave 1 (2007) when the children were 9 years of age, and again at Wave 2 (2011) when the children were 13 years of age. This was a key stage in the lives of Cohort ’98 as they transitioned from primary to secondary school – and in the context of the Great Recession of 2008-2013.

The report was launched by Bernie McNally, Assistant Secretary General at the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The GUI team were also pleased to welcome Joseph Duffy, CEO of Jigsaw, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health as the respondent at the launch event.

 

Growing Up in Ireland: The Lives of 17/18-Year-Olds by Eoin McNamara, Daráine Murphy, Aisling Murray, Emer Smyth and Dorothy Watson.  (30th July 2020)

Watch a video recording of the launch presentation here.

This new report focuses on the lives of young people who were 17/18 years old in 2015/2016 and who have been followed by the researchers since they were 9 years old.  As the cohort was preparing to make the transition to adulthood, the national context was a period of employment growth and recovery, following the Great Recession, but well before the current COVID-19 challenge. The initial results from this wave were published in late 2016.  This latest report provides more detailed findings and more extensive insights into the lives of these young people in the context of their earlier experiences and in the context of national and international research on this age group.   The results cover the socio-economic circumstances of the families in which the 17/18-year-olds lived and young people’s outcomes in key domains of health, socio-emotional development, school/cognitive development and their broadening engagement with society.

The report will be launched by Dr Roderic O’Gorman, T.D., Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, and Integration.

Download the full report Growing Up in Ireland: The Lives of 17/18-Year-Olds or download the infographic summary.

Launch of Key Findings Reports for the Child Cohort at 20 Years at the GUI Annual Conference

Growing Up in Ireland held its 11th Annual Research Conference on Thursday 21st November 2019 in the Gibson Hotel in Dublin’s docklands area. Four Key Findings Reports were launched, based on data collected from the Child Cohort (Cohort ’98) at age 20 Years.

Further details of this and previous conferences can be accessed via the main conference page.

Launch of two new GUI reports on the Infant Cohort  – February 21st

Two new reports from the Growing Up in Ireland study were launched on Feb 21st.  Both reports use data from the ’08 (Infant Cohort) and are now available here for download.

A brief description of each report is given below.  Infographic summaries and launch presentations for both reports are also available below the description.

The Effects of Economic Recession and Family Stress on the Adjustment of 3-Year-Olds in Ireland

Elizabeth Nixon (TCD), Richard Layte (TCD) and Maeve Thornton (ESRI alumna)

This report is concerned with understanding how the economic recession in Ireland affected stress within families, and in turn how this is associated with the behavioural and emotional adjustment of 3-year-olds.  It uses longitudinal data from the ’08 (Infant) Cohort collected when the children were 9 months and again at age 3 years.

 

Assistant Professor Elizabeth Nixon gave a presentation of the economic strain report at the launch:

Growing Up in Ireland: The Lives of 5-Year-Olds

Aisling Murray (ESRI), Eoin McNamara (ESRI), James Williams (ESRI alumnus) and Emer Smyth (ESRI)

The report presents further details on the lives of children from the Growing Up in Ireland study (Cohort ’08) when they were aged 5 years. The results cover the socio-economic circumstances of the families in which the 5-year-olds lived and those children’s outcomes in key domains of health, socio-emotional development (including relationship with parents) and school/cognitive development.

Dr. Aisling Murray gave a presentation of The Lives of 5-Year-Olds report at the launch: