Abstract
This chapter discusses problems with existing attempts to measure children’s well-being using secondary datasets, taking as an example the UNICEF Innocenti report entitled Child Poverty in perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries (2007). The report placed UK’s children at the bottom of the league table of rich nations on their average score across six dimensions, including emotional well-being and ‘happiness’. Each dimension is made up of three or more indicators. The report’s authors point to a number of problems with the available data and their uses of it; they see the report as a start in making international comparisons. We too seek here to engage in a critical debate about the value of the report. We argue that it exemplifies a deficit model approach to the study of children’s lives, as it appears to seek to demonstrate negative aspects of children’s experiences. It seems to have entered the public, or at least media, consciousness to an unprecedented degree, and its findings are frequently cited as scientific ‘fact’ in press reports about children and young people. In this chapter, we discuss some of the problems with the approach taken in the report, including definitions of ‘well-being’, how well-being is measured, and how children’s (human) rights are invoked. Our critique discusses the potential of research that takes more positive, assets-based approach to researching children’s health, well-being and everyday lives.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
11 Million (2008). Happy + Healthy. Summary of children and young people’s views on what makes them happy and healthy. London: 11 Million. www.11million.org.uk cited 4 June 2008.
Alderson, P., & Morrow, V. (2004). Ethics, social research and consulting with children and young people. Barkingside: Barnardo’s.
Alexander, R., & Hargreaves, L. (2007). Community soundings. Primary review briefings. Cambridge: Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge.
Alexander, R. (ed) (2009) Children, their World, their Education: final report and recommendations of the Cambridge Primary Review. London: Routledge
Ansell, N., Barker, J., & Smith, F. (2007). UNICEF ‘child poverty in perspective’ report: a view from the UK. Viewpoint. Children’s Geographies, 5, 3, 325–330.
Beazley H., Bessell, S., Ennew, J., & Waterson, R. (2006). What children say. Results of comparative research on the physical and emotional punishment of children in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, 2005. Bangkok, Thailand: Save the Children Sweden.
Ben-Arieh, A., & Frones, I. (2007). Indicators of children’s well-being – concepts, indices and usage. Guest editorial. Social Indicators Research, 80, 1–4.
Bradshaw, J. (2007). Some problems in the international comparison of child income poverty, In H. Wintersberger, et al. (eds.) Childhood, generational order and the welfare state: exploring children’s social and economic welfare. (pp. 93–107) Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark.
Cameron, E., Mathers, J., & Parry, J. (2006). ‘Health and well-being’: questioning the use of health concepts in public health policy and practice. Critical Public Health, 16, 4, 347–354.
Carlisle, S., & Hanlon, P. (2007). Well-being and consumer culture: a different kind of public health problem? Health Promotion International, 22, 3, 261–268.
Coppock, V. (2001). Medicalising children’s behaviour. In B. Franklin (ed.) (Second edition) The new handbook of children’s rights. Comparative policy and practice. (pp. 139–154) London: Routledge.
CRAE (Children’s Rights Alliance for England) (2008). Alternative NGO report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. London: CRAE.
Cunningham, H. (2007). Childhood and happiness in Britain. GRAAT, 36, 19–30.
DCSF (Department for Children, Families and Schools) (2007). Social and emotional aspects of learning. www.dcsf.gov.uk.
Dinham, A. (2007) Raising expectations or dashing hopes? Well-being and participation in disadvantages areas. Community Development Journal, 42, 2, 181–193.
Dunn, J., & Deater-Deckard, K. (2001). Children’s views of their changing families. New York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation/YPS.
Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning or therapy? The demoralisation of education. British Journal of Educational Studies, 52, 2, 112–127.
Ecclestone, K. (2008). The rise of the fragile learner: why assessing emotional well-being undermines education. Inaugural lecture. Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.
Edwards, R., Mauthner, M., Hadfield, L. (2005) Children’s sibling relationships and gendered practices: talk, activity and dealing with change. Gender and Education, 17, 5, 499–513.
Ennew, J., & Milne, B. (1989). The next generation. Lives of third world children. London: Zed Press.
Ennew, J. (2008). Children’s rights in the driving seat? Muddles in the interface between policy, programme and information about children since 1989. Plenary address, Child and Youth Research Network Conference: Child and youth research in the 21st century: a critical appraisal. European University, Cyprus, 28–29 May 2008.
Esping Andersen, G. (1996). Welfare states in transition. London: Sage.
Fattore, T., Mason, J., & Watson, E. (2007). Children’s conceptualisation(s) of their well-being. Social Indicators Research, 80, 5–29.
Heady, L., & Oliveira, A. (2008). On the bright side. Measuring the impact of charities on children’s well-being. London: New Philanthropy Capital.
Holland, P. (1992). What is a child? Popular images of childhood. London: Virago.
Hulme, D., & Toye, J. (2006). The case for cross-disciplinary social science research on poverty, inequality and well-being. Journal of Development Studies, 42, 7, 1085–1107.
Huppert, F., & Baylis, N. (2004). Well-being: towards an integration of psychology, neurobiology and social science. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 359, 1447–1451.
Institute of Education (2008). Conference participants. Health in schools: participation and partnerships, Day conference, Institute of Education, University of London, March 2008.
James, A., & Prout, A. (eds.) (1990/1997). Constructing and reconstructing childhood. London: Falmer Press.
Luthar, S. (2003). The culture of affluence: psychological costs of material wealth. Child Development, 74, 6, 1581–1593.
Luthar, S., & Latendresse, S. (2005). Children of the affluent. Challenges to well-being. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 1, 49–52.
MAGIC (1999). Briefing on the Oslo challenge. Available online: http://www.unicef.org/magic/briefing/ cited 2 September 2008.
Mason, J., and Tipper, B. (2008). Being related: how children define and create kinship. Childhood: A Journal of Global Child Research, 15, 4, 441–460.
Mayall, B. (1996). Children, health and the social order. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Mayall, B. (2002). Towards a sociology for childhood. Thinking from children’s lives. London: Open University Press.
Mayer, C. (2008). Unhappy, unloved and out of control. Time Magazine, 7 April 2008.
Morrow, V. (1998). Understanding families: children’s perspective. London: National Children’s Bureau/Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Morrow, V. (1999). Conceptualising social capital in relation to the well-being of children and young people: a critical review. The Sociological Review, 47, 4, 744–765.
Morrow, V. (2000). ‘Dirty looks’ and ‘trampy places’ in young people’s accounts of community and neighbourhood: implications for health inequalities. Critical Public Health, 10, 2, 141–152.
Morrow, V. (2002). Children’s rights to public space: environment and curfews. In Bob Franklin (ed.) (Second edition) The new handbook of children’s rights. Comparative policy and practice. London: Routledge.
OFSTED (2007). Tell us 2 survey results, press release. www.ofsted.gov.uk cited 4 June 2008.
Punch, S. (2008). You can do nasty things to your brothers and sisters without a reason: siblings’ backstage behaviour. Children & Society, 22, 333–344.
Putnam, R.D. (2000). Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Qvortrup, J. (1991). Childhood as a social phenomenon: introduction to a series of national reports. Eurosocial Report 36. Vienna: European Centre.
Qvortrup, J. (1994). Introduction. In J. Qvortrup, et al. (eds.) Childhood matters: social theory, practice and politics. (pp. 1–23) Aldershot: Avebury Press.
Redmond, G. (2008). Child poverty and child rights: edging towards a definition. Journal of Children and Poverty, 14, 1, 63–82.
Sixsmith, J., Nic Gabhainn, S., Fleming, C., O’Higgins, S. (2007). Children’s, parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of child wellbeing. Health Education, 107, 6, 511–523.
Smart, C., Neale, B., & Wade, A. (2001). The changing experience of childhood: families and divorce. Cambridge: Polity.
Sointu, E. (2005). The rise of an ideal: tracing changing discourses of wellbeing. The Sociological Review, 53, 2, 255–274.
Spencer, G. (2007). Young people’s perspectives on health related risks. MRes Dissertation, Faculty of Children and Health, Institute of Education, University of London.
Thomas-Bailey, C. (2008). Call for happiness lessons as teenage depression increases. The Guardian, 10 September 2008.
UNHCHR (1989) (Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights). UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989.
UNICEF (2007). Child poverty in perspective: an overview of child well-being in rich countries. Innocenti Report Card No. 7, UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, Italy.
WHO (1946). Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19–22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Grace Spencer, Priscilla Alderson, Maggie Black, Tom Burke, Georgia Towers, Helen Roberts and Ian Warwick for very helpful comments on an earlier draft, as well as members of the seminar audience at the Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, where this chapter was first presented.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Morrow, V., Mayall, B. (2010). Measuring Children’s Well-Being: Some Problems and Possibilities. In: Morgan, A., Davies, M., Ziglio, E. (eds) Health Assets in a Global Context. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5921-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5921-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-5920-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-5921-8
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)