- Minister welcomes the valuable contribution made by Growing Up in Ireland to our knowledge of child development from birth to three years.
- The vast majority of Irish 3 year olds are in good health, display low levels of behavioural difficulties and experience a positive parenting style.
- The Minister notes that evidence of an emerging gap in child outcomes relating to levels of social advantage by 3 years requires special attention.
- The Minister says the extension of study until 2019 will allow for continued tracking of critical transition points in children and young people’s lives
Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has today welcomed the publication of the latest series of research findings from the ‘Growing Up in Ireland’ longitudinal study of children which is commissioned and funded by her Department.
The findings published today focus on children’s health, physical, behavioural and cognitive outcomes and the factors that affect them, including parenting and the home environment, childcare arrangements and the financial circumstances of the child’s family.
Responding to the findings the Minister Fitzgerald said ‘this important research provides a rich description of life between birth and three years, a time in life marked by a number of significant developmental milestones’.
The Minister welcomed the findings that the vast majority of Irish 3 year olds are in good health, display low levels of behavioural difficulties and experience a positive parenting style.
Noting in particular the evidence of the emergence of a social gradient, differences by level of social advantage, across a range of child outcomes by 3 years, the Minister states “these striking findings remind us of the important role for public policy in mitigating the effects of early disadvantage”.
On this issue, this Minister noted the importance of a number of departmental initiatives aimed at the early years; the commitment to the universal pre-school year and the associated quality agenda, the development of Ireland first-ever National Early Years Strategy and the introduction of the new Area based approach to Child Poverty.
The latest findings from the Growing Up in Ireland show that
- The vast majority of 3-year-old children in Ireland are reported to be in good health – almost 98 per cent were described as being very healthy or healthy by their parents.
- A quarter of all three year olds were overweight (19%) or obese (6%). Obesity levels increased from 5 per cent among children from the most socially advantaged group to 9 per cent among those who were most disadvantaged.
- Children of less well-educated mothers more likely to have consumed energy dense food and less likely to have consumed fresh fruit or vegetables.
- Parenting styles which were low in warmth and consistency or high in hostility were related to more behavioural difficulties among children.
- Cognitive ability was strongly associated mothers level of education and frequency of reading to the child in the home.
- Nearly two third of families with 3 year olds stated that the recession had a significant or very significant impact on their lives
Growing Up in Ireland is the first national longitudinal study of children in Ireland. Over the course of 2006-2014, the study has monitored the development of almost 20,000 children, an infant cohort of 11,100 9-month olds and a child cohort of 8,570 9-year olds. The aim of Growing Up in Ireland is ‘to study the factors, which contribute to or undermine the well-being of children in contemporary Irish families, and, through this, contribute to the setting of effective and responsive policies relating to children and to the design of services for children and their families’. Two waves of data collection have been completed for both the infant cohort (at age 9 months and then 3 years) and the child cohort (at age 9 years and then 13 years) and reports of the findings have been published. A third wave of data collection of the infant cohort (at age 5 years) is currently being undertaken and will complete Phase 1 of the Study.
Minister Fitzgerald stated “the recent Government decision extending the duration of the study until 2019 will allow for continued tracking of critical transition points in children and young people’s lives including providing further insight into key issues relating to children, young people and their family circumstances”.
The Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) focuses on harmonising policy issues that affect children in areas such as early childhood care and education, youth justice, child welfare and protection, children and young people’s participation in decision-making, research on children and young people, youth work and cross cutting initiatives for children and young people. To that end, Growing Up in Ireland makes an important and valuable contribution.