Indicators of Children’s Well being: What should be Measured and Why?

Abstract

Children are human beings with rights and entitlements, including the right to well-being. Child well-being encompasses quality of life in a broad sense. It refers to a child's eco nomic conditions, peer relations, political rights, and opportunities for development. Most studies focus on certain aspects of children's well-being, often emphasizing social and cultural variations. Thus, any attempts to grasp well-being in its entirety must use indicators on a variety of aspects of well-being. Well-being is related to values. Consider UNICEF's work on deterring young mar riages. In this case, early marriages are understood as threatening a child's human rights despite being rooted in the culture of the family and local community. Hence, the definition of well-being is not determined only by local values, but by universal values as well. Different aspects of well-being create different methodological challenges to both theory and measurement, as illustrated in this current issue. Pedersen and Sommerfeldt study children's position in armed conflicts, discussing how indicators can be developed in situations in which it is difficult to apply standard measures and methods, while esti mates about numbers and quality of life are essential. These complex circumstances also illustrate a general challenge related to well-being; the need for conceptual clarification of positions and values. Values, therefore, are the focus of the article by Casas, Figuer, Gonz?lez, and Malo, who examine the possible values gap between generations and its implications for mea suring children's well-being. Anderson-Moore, Lippman, Vandivere, McPhee, and Bloch approach the complex issue of developing an index of the general conditions of children. Although such indices of children well-being are becoming widespread, this article carefully analyzes the conceptual and methodological aspects, both positive and negative, of such an endeavour. Well-being is affected by the interaction between a child's environment and his or her position and resources. Benbenisti and Astor examine this interaction within a school setting, relating indicators on various levels. Their study illustrates that the environment is