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Civic Engagement and Child and Adolescent Well-Being

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Handbook of Child Well-Being

Abstract

The implications of civic engagement for child and adolescent well-being are explored conceptually and empirically. To establish a foundation for this chapter, the meaning of well-being for individuals and societies is first considered. Flourishing is distinguished from pleasure and conventional success, and we argue that flourishing is (1) the essence of well-being, and (2) requires civic participation for its attainment. The evidence for dynamic relations among civic engagement in childhood and adolescence and individual and societal flourishing is reviewed and evaluated. We conclude that research to date supports the conclusion that fostering civic engagement among children and adolescents can promote well-being.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Effective Education, Rutgers University, 325 Cooper Street, Camden, NJ, 08102, USA

    Prof. Daniel Hart

  2. Kwantlen University, Richmond, Canada

    Kyle Matsuba

  3. Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, 08102, USA

    Robert Atkins

Authors
  1. Prof. Daniel Hart
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  2. Kyle Matsuba
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  3. Robert Atkins
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel Hart .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Asher Ben-Arieh

  2. Research Institute of Quality of Life, University of Girona, Girona, Spain

    Ferran Casas

  3. Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Ivar Frønes

  4. Department of Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

    Jill E. Korbin

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Hart, D., Matsuba, K., Atkins, R. (2014). Civic Engagement and Child and Adolescent Well-Being. In: Ben-Arieh, A., Casas, F., Frønes, I., Korbin, J. (eds) Handbook of Child Well-Being. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9063-8_33

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9063-8_33

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-9062-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-90-481-9063-8

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

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