Longitudinal patterns of reading frequency

When the child was three years of age, Primary Caregivers were asked about the frequency at which someone at home read to the child. The responses were in terms of number of days per week. Because the question was asked differently at the two waves, Figure 4.20 presents the proportion of children who are read to every day by their Primary Caregiver in terms of the (grouped) number of days they were read to two years previously. A strong relationship is found between reading frequency at the two time-points. Over three-quarters (76%) of those who were read to (almost) every day at three are being read to every day at five. This compares with only 37% of those who were read to for two days or less per week and 50% of those who were read to on three to five days a week (Figure 4.20).

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% Junior Cert

or less Leaving Cert Certificate / Diploma Degree or more Boys Girls

% of 5-year-olds 54% 59% 65% 72% 64% 66% PCG Education Gender

89

Figure 4.20: Proportion of 5-year-olds who are read to ‘every day’ by their Primary Caregiver, by the number of days they were read to per week at the age of 3

4.5

SUmmARY

The indicators of children’s socio-emotional wellbeing in this chapter included their parent-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), a screening tool used to help identify those at risk of socio-emotional and behavioural problems. Their ratings at age five were similar to those at age three, and most children performed quite well on all subscales.

Being potentially at risk of socio-emotional and behavioural problems (i.e. in the top decile of the SDQ ‘total difficulties’ scale) at age five was much more likely among those who had been in this decile at three years (40%). Nonetheless, scores for some children improved over time (60% were no longer ‘at risk’ by age 5).

Overall, at five years the teachers’ SDQ ratings followed the same general trend as those of parents, but with slightly lower ‘total difficulties’ and pro-social scores. Children with an ‘at risk’ score on the parent report at age five years were more likely to be scored in this range by their teacher too (34%). Differences between parent and teacher ratings suggest that socio-emotional or behavioural problems may be more evident in one forum than another (home or school).

As noted with the earlier wave, socio-economic disadvantage and male gender were associated with increased likelihood of ‘at risk’ scores on the SDQ measure. This applied to both parent and teacher reports. About 20% of five-year-olds in families in the ‘never employed’ social class and 17% to 18% of those in one-parent families scored in the ‘at risk’ range according to parent reports, compared to an overall figure of 10%. Doing poorly on another measure of personal and social skills in infancy was also linked to later risk of socio-emotional or behavioural problems, but associations were less strong than between the three- year and five-year surveys on the same SDQ measure. Fourteen per cent of children who scored below average on the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) at nine months were at risk of socio-emotional and behavioural problems at age five compared to 9% of those who had scored at or above threshold on the earlier test. % of 5-year-olds Reading at 3 37% 50% 76% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

90

The age-five wave introduced a new parent-reported measure of competency in social skill development in the form of four subscales from the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales (SSIS-RS). The subscales were assertion, responsibility, empathy and self-control. Interestingly, there were fewer socio-demographic trends on this positively oriented measure, with the exception of family type, where single children in two- parent households scored better than others (30% to 32% in the most favourable quartile on empathy and self-control compared to 25% overall). Girls (29% on empathy) also tended to score more positively than boys (20% on empathy). Again some longitudinal trends emerged compared to both nine months (a low age-specific personal-social score on the ASQ scale at 9 months was linked to a low social skills score later on) and three years (an easier temperament was associated with a higher score in terms of responsibility, empathy and self-control).

This chapter also looked at children’s pastimes and play. Play is generally accepted as being a key activity in fostering the healthy development of children, and the role of physical play, in particular, is acknowledged in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures.

In relation to screen-time, overall, children typically spent less than two hours a day on screen-time (including watching television, videos/DVDs, movies, playing computer games, using a computer or smartphone) but 13% of five-year-olds spent three hours or more on these kinds of activities on a typical day.

There were strong socio-demographic trends in relation to lengthy periods of screen-time. Children from socially disadvantaged families were more likely to be spending three or more hours a day on screen-based activities (21% of children whose Primary Caregiver has education to Junior Cert level spend three or more hours a day on screen-based activities compared to 8% of children whose Primary Caregiver has a degree). Most five-year-old children used their screen-time for a mixture of activities (58%) but a sizeable minority used it only for watching television/DVDs (37%). There were some gender differences; girls were more likely to just watch television content (41% compared to 34%) and spend somewhat less time on it in total (13% spend 3 or more hours compared to 15% of boys).

Future research possibilities using Growing Up in Ireland data include an examination of associations between screen-time and wellbeing in cognitive, socio-emotional, behavioural and physical health domains, and the mechanisms underlying these associations.

In other types of play, gender again emerged as a key predictor. Boys were more likely to engage in physical play (60% compared to 36%), and less likely to engage in other forms of play, such as crafts (42% compared to 67%) and dance/music (46% compared to 73% of girls).

Further analysis of household characteristics tended to show that physical play activities, such as climbing and riding a bike, were more common among children from lower-income families and those who lived in rural areas. For instance, 72% of children in the lowest-income group and 68% of those living in rural areas played ‘chase’ every day, compared to 66% overall. A preference for physical activities seemed more likely to persist over time than preferences for other types of play activities. For example, 69% of children who had preferred ‘active’ games at three years old played chase every day at age five compared to 61% of those who had preferred ‘inactive’ games at age three.

Being read to at home is an important influence on children’s language development and literacy skills. Two-thirds of five-year-old children are read to every day by their Primary Caregiver. This is more common among the children of graduates (72%) than in families with Junior Certificate or lower qualifications (54%). Reading frequency at three and five years of age are strongly related; the majority of families who read to their three-year-old (almost) every day continue to do so as their child gets older.