Children's subjective well-being : International comparative perspectives

We are enjoined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to take account of the views of children. One way this can be done is by asking children about their lives in sample surveys. This paper is a comparison of the results obtained to sample survey questions on subjective well-being of children at two contrasting levels of analysis - international macro (European Union 29) and national level micro (England). At both levels, children¿s well-being is accessed in terms of three subjective domains: (1) personal well-being, (2) relational well-being, and (3) well-being at school. At the micro level we also explore neighbourhood well-being. The results show that at the macro level personal well-being is associated with the material and housing circumstances but not family relationships or family structure. Well-being at school is not associated with any variable. Subjective health is only associated with family structure. At the micro level, although many of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of children are found to be associated with their well-being in the four domains, these factors explain only a small amount of the variation in these well-being domains

Why international comparisons of education should focus on both averages and equality

Each new round of the OECD’s global education survey leads to scrutiny of country rankings based on the average child’s performance, but the new Innocenti Report Card argues that equality in test scores is just as important as average standards. Yekaterina Chzhen and Gwyther Rees, lead authors of the report, illustrate this point in relation to the four nations of the UK

Variations in children's affective subjective well-being at seven years old: an analysis of current and historical factors

There is a growing amount of evidence on children’s subjective well-being in general, but research on this topic with younger children is still scarce. In the UK, Wave 4 of the Millennium Cohort Study asked questions about positive and negative affect to a nationally representative sample of over 13,000 children aged around seven years old. The study also contains other information reported by children about their friendships, family relationships, experiences of school and of being bullied; and extensive data gathered from parents across four survey waves starting when the child was nine months old. This paper analyses the extent to which variations in children’s positive and negative affect (happiness and sadness) at the age of seven years old are associated with contemporaneous factors reported by children (e.g. bullying) and parents (e.g. household income, parent-child relationships). It also analyses the extent to which socio-economic and family factors earlier in childhood can predict children’s affective subjective well-being at seven years old. A comparison is made between findings for affective subjective well-being and for emotional and behavioural difficulties. The analysis identifies important differences in factors associated with variations in positive affect, negative affect and emotional and behavioural difficulties. The paper considers the implications of these findings for future research and also in terms of the potential to improve children’s experience of childhood

Understanding variations in children’s subjective well-being: A longitudinal analysis

There is a growing research and policy interest in the topic of subjective well-being (SWB), including in relation to children. Quite a lot is now known, from cross-sectional analysis, about factors associated with variations in the SWB of children in the UK. However there is a lack of longitudinal analysis which can help to clarify the mechanisms involved. This is an important gap if research on children’s SWB is to generate findings which can be practically useful. In addition the issues of the conceptualisation and measurement of children’s SWB have not been fully explored in UK research. This dissertation sets out to address these evidence gaps. The analysis uses data from three panel and cohort studies – the British Household Panel Survey, the Understanding Society survey and the Millennium Cohort Study – all of which include large, and broadly representative, samples of children in the UK and ask children some questions about their SWB The dissertation begins by addressing conceptual and measurement issues. It explores the extent to which the data support the most common conceptual framework of SWB – the tripartite model – and identifies the most appropriate measures of SWB to use for the analysis. It then aims to answer two broad substantive research questions. First, to what extent are early childhood factors associated with later subjective well-being (at 11 years old)? Second, how does subjective well-being vary between the ages of 11 and 15 and what factors are associated with this variation? The analysis draws on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of child development to theorise the ways in which current and historical factors may affect children’s SWB. It considers a range of both contextual (e.g. family socio-economic status) and process (e.g. parent-child relationships) variables. The analytical methods used for this purpose are logistic regression; linear regression, including fixed effects and random effects models for panel data; and latent growth curve modelling. Additionally, confirmatory factor analysis is utilised to test measures of SWB. The key findings are as follows. First, in terms of conceptual and measurement issues, the data provide support for the tripartite model of SWB commonly used in the literature on adults’ SWB. The psychometric analysis also provides new insights into the way in which variables in the data sets might best be used to represent SWB. Second, children’s life satisfaction, happiness and sadness at the age of 11 are not strongly predicted by their family and socio-economic circumstances at nine months old, nor by the quality of their relationship with their main parent at three years old. Third, there is a much stronger relationship between contemporaneous factors such as family relationships and bullying and trajectories of children’s SWB between the ages of 11 and 15, with some evidence that these factors predict future as well as current SWB. These conclusions hold even when making use of the longitudinal nature of the data to control for unobserved fixed explanatory variables. Overall, the analysis presented suggests that how children feel about their lives can best be understood in terms of recent rather than historical factors and provides further evidence of the much stronger associations between children’s SWB and quality of family and peer relationships, rather than socio-economic factors. It also suggests that the etiology of SWB is different from that of other childhood well-being measures, and it is argued that this is a strength that can help to stimulate new directions for social research on children and childhood. The analysis, and the conclusions that can be drawn from it, are limited by the quality of SWB measures available and the timing of data collection for the studies. It will be valuable for future research specifically on children’s SWB, and new longitudinal and panel studies in the UK, to use better SWB measures. There is also a need for longitudinal research over shorter time periods to explore further the directions of association between SWB and other factors

Systematic review of educational interventions for looked-after children and young people: recommendations for intervention development and evaluation

Looked-after children and young people (LACYP) are educationally disadvantaged compared to the general population. A systematic review was conducted of randomised controlled trials evaluating interventions aimed at LACYP aged ≤18 years. Restrictions were not placed on delivery setting or delivery agent. Intervention outcomes were: academic skills; academic achievement and grade completion; special education status; homework completion; school attendance, suspension, and drop-out; number of school placements; teacher-student relationships; school behaviour; and academic attitudes. Fifteen studies reporting on 12 interventions met the inclusion criteria. Nine interventions demonstrated tentative impacts. However, evidence of effectiveness could not be ascertained due to variable methodological quality, as appraised by the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Theoretical and methodological recommendations are provided to enhance the development and evaluation of educational interventions

Improving relationship-based practice, practitioner confidence and family engagement skills through restorative approach training

Restorative Approach (RA) is an ethos and process that has been linked to a reduction of interpersonal conflict and improved relationships in various service settings but whose use is little explored in family services. This paper describes the findings of an evaluation of a training programme; The Restorative Approaches Family Engagement Project that was delivered to voluntary sector family practitioners across Wales with the intent of increasing the use of RA amongst practitioners and agencies, raising practitioner confidence when working with vulnerable families, and improving the extent to which and how practitioners engage with families. The study employed mixed methods. Quantitative measures investigated pre- and post- training practitioner perceptions of confidence, levels of family engagement, and organisational attitudes to RA. Post-training focus groups explored practitioner opinion of RAFEP and perceived changes to service delivery and receipt. Findings suggest RAFEP training promoted practitioner understanding of RA and increased perceptions of confidence when working with families in four specific aspects: developing positive relationships with service users, increasing communication, identifying service user needs/goals, and facilitating change. Qualitative data indicated that practitioners attributed the increased confidence to the service delivery framework engendered by the training and associated tools which facilitated its use and improved family engagement. Whilst host organisations were generally supportive of practitioners attending RAFEP training there was little evidence that knowledge and use of RA had been fully integrated into practitioner host agencies unless the organisation had previously used a restorative ethos

Ways to Well-being : Exploring the links between children's activities and their subjective well-being

This report describes the outcomes of a research study which explores activities that children can do themselves that might be linked to increased feelings of well-being

The Good Childhood Report 2015

This is the fourth annual Good Childhood Report. It is based on The Children's Society's ongoing research on children's subjective well-being, undertaken in collaboration with the University of York, which is the most extensive programme of national research on children's subjective well-being globally. The purpose of this series of reports is to provide the best available up-to-date information about the perspectives of children in the UK on their lives and well-being