New research on Growing Up in Ireland has revealed that 23% of nine-year-olds have an online profile.

The ESRI data shows over 90% of 9-year-olds spent at least some time watching TV/DVDs on both weekend and weekdays.

Some 15% of them spent two or more hours watching TV/DVDs on a weekday - while 9% spent over two hours on other types of screens (such as a computer).

Mothers reported that 23% of nine-year-olds had an online profile: 26% of boys and 21% of girls.

Boys' profiles were largely related to computer gaming, and girls' more often related to social media.

Most mothers reported having rules to manage their nine-year-olds' screen time - including rules about content (71%), time spent on devices (69%) and the time of day the child used the device (53%).

Some 59% of mothers reported engaging the child in alternative activities to reduce screen time.

The data is from the 7,563 children and families who participated in the Growing Up in Ireland survey at nine-months-old, again at three years, five years and nine years.

Other findings were that there was a doubling in the number of families who had difficulty making ends meet between the time the child was nine months and five years (from 12% to 25%).

That figure had dropped to 12% when the child was nine.

Nearly nine out of 10 nine-year-olds lived with both parents (87%) and 13% lived in one-parent families.

Children in one-parent families were the most likely to live in households with low levels of income and maternal education.

Over two-thirds saw their grandparent(s) at least once a week and, according to mothers' reports, 88% had a close relationship with at least one grandparent.

Education

In terms of education, nine-year-olds generally had positive attitudes to school and school subjects, such as reading.

Some 33% reported that they always liked school; 62% sometimes liked school and just 5% never liked school.

Attitudes to reading and maths were generally positive - but attitudes to Irish were less positive.

Some 62% always liked reading; 48% always liked maths and 22% always liked Irish.

There has also been a drop in 'reading for fun' since 2007 among children in low-income families.

Health

It found most nine-year-olds (78%) were not overweight - but 17% were overweight and 5% were obese.

The percentage of those overweight or obese had increased slightly, since they were five-fears-old, from 20% to 22%.

At age nine, girls were more likely than boys to be overweight/obese (23% vs. 21%).

While only one-quarter of nine-year-olds reached the recommended level of at least 60 minutes of physical activity.

As expected, the rate is higher for boys than girls (28% vs. 22%).

However, those in more socially advantaged families were likely to be closer to the target.

For instance, 26% of those in the highest-income category were physically active on five to six days per week - compared to only 20% in the lowest-income category.