About the Growing Up in Ireland study

The Growing Up in Ireland study started with two cohorts in 2006. The older ‘Cohort

98’ were first interviewed when they were aged 9 years in 2007 and were most

recently surveyed at age 25 in 2023. The younger of the two original cohorts, ‘Cohort

08’, were first surveyed at 9 months old in 2008/9. Cohort 08 were followed up at

ages 3, 5, 7/8 (by post), 9 and 13. Both of these cohorts were also invited to

complete an additional ‘Covid survey’ in December 2020.

In 2024, a third cohort was started with infants born that year and the first interviews

at age 9 months are ongoing at time of writing (Winter 2024/25). It is envisaged that

the timing of waves for Cohort 24 will replicate that of Cohort 08 to allow for cross-

cohort comparisons in due course. Hence, the next wave for Cohort 24 will be at age

3 years which is the focus of this report.

With some exceptions, the usual format for a Growing Up in Ireland survey is an in-

person visit to the family home by an interviewer who administers a questionnaire to

both resident parents, and to the child when they are old enough. More sensitive

questions are self-completed by the respondents. For Cohort 08 at age 3, the child

was not interviewed per se, but the interviewer did complete some direct

assessments of their cognitive and motor skills with them. The child’s height and

weight, and those of their parents, were also measured by the interviewer using

standardised equipment.

For Cohort 24 at 9 months, interviewers are conducting in-person interviews with

both of the child’s resident caregivers (where applicable). The questionnaires are

structured slightly differently to Cohort 08 at 3 years: instead of a ‘primary’ and

‘secondary’ caregiver each parent does the same ‘parent’ interview and one of the

parents also does a ‘primary informant’ interview about the baby and the household.

In a one-parent household, the same person completes a parent interview and the

primary informant questionnaire. The interviewer will measure the baby’s length and

weight as part of the household visit. There will be no attempt to survey a non-

resident parent at the 9-month wave, based on the pilot experience. There will,

however, be an attempt to survey regular childminders (home or centre-based)

dependent on permission and contact details being provided by the child’s parent.

Context for a new Growing Up in Ireland cohort