Overview of the Child Cohort

Design

The families in the Child Cohort were first interviewed when the study children were 9-years-old.  Wave 1 had two data collection components: school and home. Participants were recruited through the schools. Schools were selected at random then age-eligible children and their families were invited to participate, with a maximum of 40 children in each participating school. There were approximately 8,500 study children in total. Within the school, children completed academic achievement tests, and teachers and Principals self-completed questionnaires. Teachers completed one questionnaire about themselves and one for each study child.

In the home phase of fieldwork, parents/guardians and study children were interviewed on a Computer Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) basis. Topics covered in the interviews include child and parent health, child activities, family relationships, child’s emotional well-being, education, income and other socio-demographic characteristics. Other information recorded in the home were height and weight of respondents, and GPS co-ordinates.

If appropriate, and where permission was given, self-complete questionnaires were posted to non-resident parents and regular carers who look after the child for eight or more hours per week.  At Wave 1, the quantitative aspect of the study was complemented by a qualitative study which involved further, more indepth interviews with approximately 120 families who had also taken part in the main quantitative phase. 

In Wave 2, when the study children had turned 13-years-old, they and their parents/guardians were re-interviewed in the home.  The child's height and weight, and parental weight, were measured again.  The child also completed a set of cognitive/academic assesments in the home which were administered by the interviewer.  Postal questionnaires were sent to the Principal of the child's school and to a non-resident parent (where relevant).

Where are we now?

The first wave of data collection for the Child Cohort (9- Years) was completed in 2008. The Study Team have lodged an anonymised dataset from the first wave of the 9-year cohort with the Irish Social Sciences Data Archive . Wave 2 fieldwork, when the children reached 13-years of age, has recently concluded.

The qualitative data from Wave 1 has been lodged with the Irish Qualitative Data Archive. 

Links to published reports on the Child Cohort can be found on the Publications page.