Skip to main content
Saoirse Nic Gabhainn

    Saoirse Nic Gabhainn

    To investigate positive health and its associations with supportive relationships with friends and family members, we conducted an analysis of data from the 2002 Irish Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study (HBSC); a... more
    To investigate positive health and its associations with supportive relationships with friends and family members, we conducted an analysis of data from the 2002 Irish Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Study (HBSC); a cross-sectional survey of 8,424 Irish schoolchildren aged 10-18. 36.0% and 63.4% of the students reported lack of emotional and physical symptoms respectively, 56.1% reported high life satisfaction, 46.9% scored highly on positive life index and 44.2% reported that they are very happy with their life. Parent, sibling and friend relationships were independent predictors of positive health, with higher odds ratios for parents than those for siblings or friends. A greater number of supportive relationships was strongly associated with positive health. Gender and age variations are also reported. The data suggest that there are gains to be made in terms of adolescent health from assisting adolescents to build and maintain their interpersonal relationships, and indep...
    The attitudes of young men and women to breastfeeding were examined including perceived incentives and barriers to the practice in cross sectional survey and focus group discussion. The study involoved 177 (100%) fifth and final year... more
    The attitudes of young men and women to breastfeeding were examined including perceived incentives and barriers to the practice in cross sectional survey and focus group discussion. The study involoved 177 (100%) fifth and final year students of both sexes and a subsample of 48 students in 6 focus groups in three post primary schools in an Irish midland town. Overall 28% reported that they themselves were breastfed. The most frequent sources of information were the media rather than home or school. A majority of girls (86%) and boys (77%) agreed that breastfeeding was the best method of feeding, but less intended the practice for their children (54%), girls being significantly less likely than boys. There were no patterns in relation to social class and lifestyle. Reasons for breastfeeding in the focus groups included its naturalness, facility of feeding and adequate nourishment. Reasons against related to embarrassment in public, but mainly related to perceived problems with the pr...
    Research Interests:
    The structure of music preferences has been investigated extensively. However, development of music preferences in terms of consistency of music taste is as yet understudied. In this study, intra-individual consistency of music taste was... more
    The structure of music preferences has been investigated extensively. However, development of music preferences in terms of consistency of music taste is as yet understudied. In this study, intra-individual consistency of music taste was assessed among Dutch adolescents and young adults over three points in time in a 21-month period. An internet-based panel of 236 participants was asked to list their top three favourite artists or bands, and to rate their preferences for a range of music genres. Genre ratings were grouped into five styles: pop, urban, elite, rock and dance, using factor analysis. Thus there were three measures of music taste for each participant over time: favourite artists, preference for musical genres and styles. Findings indicated that favourite artists tended to have a high turnover rate, that genres were rated relatively consistently with moderate to high q-correlations (between .41 and .67), and that style preferences were highly consistent (q-correlations be...
    A typology of music listeners was constructed on the basis of importance attributed to music and four types of music use: mood enhancement; coping with problems; defining personal identity; and marking social identity. Three Listener... more
    A typology of music listeners was constructed on the basis of importance attributed to music and four types of music use: mood enhancement; coping with problems; defining personal identity; and marking social identity. Three Listener Groups were identified through Latent Class Analysis of internet survey data of 997 Dutch respondents, aged 12—29. High-Involved listeners (19.7%) experienced music as a very important medium and used music most often for mood enhancement, coping with distress, identity construction and social identity formation. Medium- (74.2%) and Low- Involved (6.1%) listeners formed two distinct groups with less intense importance/use patterns Furthermore, High-Involved listeners reported that they liked a broad range of genres (Pop, Rock, High Brow, Urban and Dance) and experienced the most intense positive affect when listening. However, both High- and Medium-Involved listeners also reported more negative affects (anger and sadness) when listening, compared to the...
    To examine the relationship of the early initiation of cannabis use with other high risk behaviors and with psychosocial and health-related correlates in 15-year-old adolescents in six European countries.
    To examine trends in the prevalence of monthly alcohol use and lifetime drunkenness among 15 year olds in 20 European countries, the Russian Federation, Israel, the United States of America, and Canada.
    Both music preferences and the substance use behavior of peers are important elements in explaining adolescent substance use. The extent to which music preference and peer use overlap in explaining adolescent substance use remains to be... more
    Both music preferences and the substance use behavior of peers are important elements in explaining adolescent substance use. The extent to which music preference and peer use overlap in explaining adolescent substance use remains to be determined. A nationally representative sample of 7324 Dutch school-going adolescents (aged 12-16) provided data on music preferences, substance use behaviors and perceived number of peers using substances. Factor analyses showed that preferences for eight music genres factored into four styles: Pop (chart music, Dutch pop), Adult (classical music, jazz), Urban (rap/hiphop, soul/R&B) and Hard (punk/hardcore, techno/hardhouse); substance use was indicated by smoking, drinking, and cannabis use. Structural equation modeling revealed that the relationship between music preference and substance use was either wholly or partially mediated by perceived peer use. Music can model substance use and fans of different types of music may select friends with use ...
    Although most people in developed countries experience sexual initiation during adolescence, little is known about inter-country variability in the psychosocial correlates of early initiation. Population-based samples of 15-year-olds (n =... more
    Although most people in developed countries experience sexual initiation during adolescence, little is known about inter-country variability in the psychosocial correlates of early initiation. Population-based samples of 15-year-olds (n = 6,111, 52% female) who participated in the Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children Study (Finland, Scotland, France and Poland, 1997/1998) or the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (United States, 1996) self-reported sexual intercourse experience and physical (headaches, trouble sleeping) or psychological (unhappiness, loneliness, sadness, moodiness) symptoms. Analyses were conducted stratified by gender. Sexual initiation prevalence and symptoms scores varied significantly across nations. In adjusted models, sexual initiation was not related to symptoms among boys in any nation, but significantly positively related to symptoms among girls in Poland and the US. Results support variability by gender and nation in the relationship betw...
    The aim of this study was to identify differences in food habits and lifestyle behaviours by dieting status among young people in Ireland.
    To investigate the relationships between food poverty and food consumption, health and life satisfaction among schoolchildren.
    A connection between preferences for heavy metal, rap, reggae, electronic dance music, and substance use has previously been established. However, evidence as to the gender-specific links between substance use and a wider range of music... more
    A connection between preferences for heavy metal, rap, reggae, electronic dance music, and substance use has previously been established. However, evidence as to the gender-specific links between substance use and a wider range of music genres in a nationally representative sample of adolescents has to date been missing. In 2003, the Dutch government funded the Dutch National School Survey on Substance Use (DNSSSU), a self-report questionnaire among a representative school-based sample of 7,324 adolescents aged 12 to 16 years, assessed music preference, tobacco, and alcohol use and a set of relevant covariates related to both substance use and music preference. Overall, when all other factors were controlled, punk/hardcore, techno/hardhouse, and reggae were associated with more substance use, while pop and classical music marked less substance use. While prior research showed that liking heavy metal and rap predicts substance use, in this study a preference for rap/hip-hop only indi...
    We explored the association between socioeconomic position and four different aspects of adolescent health behavior in a wide range of European countries, the US, Canada and Israel.
    Medicine use among children and young people is under-researched. Studies that investigated cross-national patterns in adolescents' medicine use practice are rare. This study aims to investigate adolescents' medicine use for... more
    Medicine use among children and young people is under-researched. Studies that investigated cross-national patterns in adolescents' medicine use practice are rare. This study aims to investigate adolescents' medicine use for corresponding health complaints in Europe and USA.
    This study examined relationships between music preferences and substance use (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis) among 18,103 fifteen-year-olds from 10 European countries. In 2005-2006, across Europe, preferences for mainstream Pop (pop chart... more
    This study examined relationships between music preferences and substance use (tobacco, alcohol, cannabis) among 18,103 fifteen-year-olds from 10 European countries. In 2005-2006, across Europe, preferences for mainstream Pop (pop chart music) and Highbrow (classical music and jazz) were negatively associated with substance use, while preferences for Dance (house/trance and techno/hardhouse) were associated positively with substance use. In three countries, links were identified between liking Rock (rock, heavy metal punk/hardcore, and gothic) and substance use; associations between Urban (hip-hop and R&B) and substance use were mixed. No substantial gender differences emerged in these patterns, and controlling for relevant covariates did not attenuate the predictive value of substance use. The findings are consistent with the conclusion that music is a robust marker of adolescent substance use.
    ... Friel, S. Nic Gabhainn, S. Kelleher, C. February, 1999 ... Produce reliable baseline data for a representative cross-section of the Irish population which will inform the Department of Health and Children's future policy and... more
    ... Friel, S. Nic Gabhainn, S. Kelleher, C. February, 1999 ... Produce reliable baseline data for a representative cross-section of the Irish population which will inform the Department of Health and Children's future policy and programme planning. ...