Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) Cohort ’98 (Child Cohort) Wave 4 - 20 years, 2019

Growing Up in Ireland - the National Longitudinal Study of Children is a landmark study of children and youth which has been running since 2006. The objectives of the study are outlined in a separate publication (Greene et al. 2010). In summary, the project seeks to further our understanding of what it means to be a child or young person growing up in modern Ireland, with a view to informing policy on what both helps and hinders development. A two cohort, cross-sequential longitudinal design was adopted and began with one cohort (Cohort ‘08) of 11,134 infants (aged 9 months) and a second cohort (Cohort ‘98) of 8,568 9-year-olds. Being longitudinal in nature, the same participants are followed over time. The families of Cohort ‘08 have been interviewed when the children were 9 months, 3 years, 5 years and subsequently 9 years of age, while Cohort ’98 and their parents/guardians were interviewed at 9, 13 and 17/18 years of age. This wave of data concerns the Wave 4 interviews of Cohort ‘98 at 20 years of age. As the 20-year-olds are now adults, they are regarded as the main respondents. One parent was also asked to complete questionnaires. All 20-year-olds who were successfully interviewed in the main study at Wave 4 were invited to self-complete the Time-Use Diary. These data have been collected by Growing Up in Ireland, the national longitudinal study of children and young people. The study is funded by Government and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY) is the project sponsor. The study is carried out by the GUI Research Team at DCEDIY, in partnership with the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The Department leads on research aspects of GUI, such as identifying data needs in advance of each wave, and conducting or commissioning policy relevant analyses of available data; and the CSO leads on GUI data collection and the production of statistical outputs. GUI data are collected under the strict confidentiality requirements of the Statistics Act 1993.