Growing up in Recessionary Ireland

• In Event: 410 - Regular Session. Children/Youth/Adolescents

Abstract

This paper seeks to arrive at an informed understanding of the relationship between child well-being and wider economic conditions. In doing so, we highlight how changes in family circumstances during a recession particularly in relation to household employment and childcare arrangements impact on the well being of infants in Ireland. Drawing on the longitudinal infant cohorts of the Growing up in Ireland study, we capture different dimensions of child well-being, including developmental outcomes among infants at 9 months and again at age 3. These include socio-emotional outcomes, academic attainment, and physical health. Using regression models applied to the longitudinal data obtained from 11,000 infants by the Growing up in Ireland study, we examine how changes in family circumstances over the course of the recession in Ireland impacts on the lives of infants in Ireland. Moving beyond the identification of the characteristics of children and their families that fare best on these child well-being domains, this paper seeks to examine the dynamics of inequality over a three year recessionary period.

Author

• Delma Byrne, National University of Ireland-Maynooth