Lenihan: Future generations to benefit from €24m study

A €24m study set to benefit future generations of children was today launched by Minister Brian Lenihan.

The development of more than 18,000 youngsters in the current social, economic and cultural environment will be examined as part of the Longitudinal Study.

Its findings are expected to form policies regarding children and their families and identify opportunities for early intervention and prevention.

Mr Lenihan, Minister for Children, said thousands of families across Ireland will be called on to co-operate with researchers.

“This study will provide information about children over the course of their life and will help us understand how, why and when children get into, and overcome difficulties,” he said.

“We know that the roots of many problems in adolescence and adulthood can be found in early childhood. Longitudinal data is essential to answer many of the questions facing policy-makers and researchers today.”

The National Longitudinal Study of Children in Ireland (NLSCI) was awarded to a research consortium led by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Children’s Research Centre at Trinity College Dublin (TCD).

The first phase will cost €24m plus VAT and will be funded by the Office of the Minister for Children and be undertaken in association with the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Central Statistics Office.

The first results will be available in 18 – 24 months.

Key factors to be identified include finding the origins of anti-social behaviour, what helps children to do well in life, what keeps teenagers at school and how the quality of nutrition in early childhood effects health at later stages.

It will also discover which factors most help or hinder children’s development, establish effects of early child experience on later life and identify persistent adverse effects that lead to social disadvantage, deprivation, exclusion, educational difficulties and ill health.

NLSCI co-director Professor Sheila Greene said the results will be used to benchmark Irish children against international comparisons.

Broad consultation will be carried out with a wide range of experts, policy-makers and children for the study.

"The ESRI and the Children’s Research Centre have a long history of research on issues concerning children and their families,” added Mr Lenihan.

“The consortium also includes renowned individuals with expertise across the broad range of areas including children’s experiences within their families, child care settings, schools and communities, and how these impact on all aspects of children’s development.”

Successful changes following longitudinal studies in other countries include a study of sleeping positions resulting in a drop in sudden infant death syndrome in the UK; language support for immigrant children in Canada, leading to higher academic achievement two years later; and the implementation of a funded pre-school year for children in the UK.