Being raised by married parents helps to protect children from the socio-emotional problems associated with poverty, the latest report from the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal study has found.

The new report also finds that more families than ever are now economically vulnerable, mainly as the result of the recession.

It reveals that children were more vulnerable to the socio-emotional problems associated with poverty in cases of relationship breakdown, in one-parent families, and where their parents were cohabiting rather than married. These groups were also the most likely to become economically vulnerable in the first place.

Being raised by married parents, having a primary caregiver with third-level education, and the absence of significant emotional distress in the primary caregiver all acted as “protective factors” against socio-emotional problems, and this protective effect was significant in “(reducing) the risk of socio-emotional problems for children in both economically vulnerable and non-vulnerable families.”

The study analysed two groups of families: those recruited into the study at age 9 (the ’98 cohort) and those recruited into the study at three months old (the ’08 cohort).

The ’98 Cohort was first interviewed between September 2007 and early 2008 (Wave 1), with a follow-up interview between August 2011 and March 2012 (Wave 2), when the children were 13 years of age.  The ’08 Cohort was first interviewed between September 2008 and April 2009 (Wave 1) and re-interviewed when the children were three years of age, between January and August 2011 (Wave 2).

Between Wave 1 and Wave 2, families in the ’08 cohort’s risk of economic vulnerability increased from 19 per cent to 2 per cent, while the ’98 cohort’s risk increased from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. On average, the authors found that the Irish population who were economically vulnerable increased from an average of 16 per cent pre-recession (2004-2008) to an average of 25 per cent after the start of the recession (2009-2011).

In both cohorts, groups with the highest risk of becoming economically vulnerable include families where the Primary caregiver was under 25 when the child was born (57 per cent), one-parent families (61 per cent for one parent families with one child and 75 per cent for one-parent families with two or more children) and families where the Primary caregiver has lower second-level education or less (54 per cent).

The children least likely to be economically vulnerable were those in families where the Primary caregiver was in her 30s when the child was born (22 per cent), two-parent families with one or two children (18 per cent and 21 per cent, respectively) and families where the Primary caregiver had degree-level education (11 per cent). There was also a higher risk of economic vulnerability where the parents were cohabiting (36 per cent).

The study also attempted to measure socio-emotional consequences of poverty using responses to the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

From the study: “Even taking account of economic vulnerability, the risk of having a potentially problematic SDQ score was also higher where the Primary caregiver was under age 30 at the time of the child’s birth, in one-parent families, where the parents were cohabiting rather than married, in cases of relationship breakdown, and where there was a low level of Primary caregiver education.”

In general, the protective factors operated in a similar way for children in economically vulnerable and non-vulnerable families. This was true of Primary caregiver age, Primary caregiver education and the absence of Primary caregiver emotional distress. The interaction with economic vulnerability was not statistically significant, indicating that the risk of socio-emotional problems was reduced by these factors among children in both economically vulnerable and non-vulnerable families. Likewise, the parents being married rather than cohabiting appeared to be associated with a reduced risk of socio-emotional problems for both groups.

Children in families that were not economically vulnerable appeared to be at a lower risk of socio-emotional problems if there was a good relationship between the parents – but for economically vulnerable families the quality of the relationship between the parents was not statistically significant.