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Wave 6 of Growing Up in Ireland Cohort ’08 included interviews with 407 13-year-old twins, representing 6% of the total number of 13-year-olds interviewed.
A similar percentage of parents of twins reported that their child experienced a long-term condition or difficulty (34.4%) when compared to parents of singleton children (32.3%). Among children with such conditions, a relatively similar percentage of parents of twins and parents of singletons reported that their child was hampered in their daily activities by this condition or difficulty to at least some extent (66.4% of twins and 62.2% of singletons).
Twin children showed lower rates of engagement with general practitioner (GP) services compared to their singleton peers in the 12-month period prior to interview. Specifically, 70.3% of parents of twins had not seen, or talked on the telephone with the GP about their child’s physical, emotional or mental health within the previous 12-month period, compared with 64% of parents of singleton children.
Levels of daily physical activity were similar for both twin children and singleton children with approximately one in four of both groups reporting they had been active for at least one hour on each of the previous seven days (26.2% and 23.9% respectively). When factoring in gender, the pattern remains consistent. Among girls, 22% of twins reported daily exercise of one hour or more, likewise for 19.4% of singleton girls. A similar trend was observed among boys, with 30.2% of twin boys and 28.3% of singleton boys reporting this level of activity.
In contrast, a lower proportion of twins when compared to singletons cited weight-related motivations for physical activity. Specifically, 31% of singleton children reported exercising to lose or avoid gaining weight, compared with 24.3% of twins. A similar pattern emerged in relation to dieting behaviours. A smaller proportion of twins compared to singletons reported having ever eaten less food, fewer calories, or foods low in fat to lose weight or to avoid gaining weight (14.9% of twins compared with 20% of singletons).
Turning to school transition experiences, similar proportions of twin and singleton children ‘strongly agreed’ that they were settling in well at secondary school. While 46.5% of singleton children reported strong agreement, the figure for twins was only slightly lower at 42.7%, indicating broadly comparable experiences across both groups.
Additionally, a similar percentage of twins and singletons expressed nostalgia for their primary school friendships. Almost half (49.7%) of twin respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they missed their old friends; this was 46.4% of singleton children.
In terms of forming new social connections, 35.9% of twins ‘strongly agreed’ that they had made new friends since entering secondary school, lower than the 42.3% of singletons who ‘strongly agreed’ with this statement.
Twin and singleton children reported similarly high rates of punctuality, with 73.9% of twins and 69.6% of singletons stating they had never been late for school in the past year.
Twin children exhibited slightly higher levels of self-reported behavioural compliance within the school environment compared to their singleton peers. A higher percentage of twin respondents reported that they had never engaged in disruptive behaviour ("messed") in class, (63.2% compared to 57.6% of singletons).
The PIANTA Conflict scale, also known as the Child-Parent Relationship Scale (CPRS), is a self-report questionnaire developed by Robert C. Pianta. It is used by parents to assess their perceptions of their relationship with their child, specifically focusing on the level of conflict they experience and the closeness they feel. The Conflict subscale (8 items) measures the degree to which a parent feels that their relationship with a child is characterized by negativity. Scores on each of the 8 items are between 1 and 5 with a lower score showing less conflict. On the Conflict subscale of the CPRS, a score of 8 represents the lowest possible score, indicating minimal conflict between the parent and child, on the other hand a score of 40 is the highest possible score and indicates a high degree of conflict between parent and child.
More than a third (37.6%) of primary caregivers of twins scored 8 on the Pianta Scale indicating a generally positive and harmonious relationship between parent and child, 26.4% of primary caregivers of singleton children also scored 8.
Similar results were seen for secondary caregivers with 32.8% of secondary caregivers of twins compared to 25.8% of secondary caregivers of singletons scoring 8 (which indicates less conflict in the parent-child relationship).
The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a 25-item behavioural screening tool used to assess various dimensions of child behaviour, including emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship issues, and prosocial behaviour. In this study, the SDQ was completed independently by the primary caregiver of children aged 13 years.
Each of the five subscales consists of five items. Responses are rated on a three-point scale: ‘Not true’, ‘Somewhat true’ or ‘Certainly true’ with corresponding scores between 0 and 2.
Scores of 0 on the emotional, conduct, hyperactivity/inattention, and peer relationship subscales of the SDQ reflect the most favourable behavioural outcomes.
When analysed 38.1% of twins recorded a score of 0 on the emotional subscale, compared to 28.5% of singletons.
Turning to the conduct sub-scale, a relatively similar percentage of twins and singletons (55.7% and 51.8% respectively) scored 0 on this scale.
The percentage of children who received a score of 0 on the hyperactivity/inattention subscale was relatively similar for twins (26.8%) and singletons (23%).
On the peer problems subscale, more than half of twin children (51.4%) recorded a score of 0, compared with 43% of singleton children.
In contrast to the other subscales, higher scores on the prosocial behaviour subscale represent a more positive outcome, with a score of 10 reflecting the most favourable outcome. Here, 50.5% of twins achieved the maximum score of 10, compared with 43.7% of their singleton peers.
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