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How are Mothers Faring across the Globe? Constructing a new Mothers’ Well-Being Index and Assessing Its Validity

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  • Ming-Chang Tsai

    (Academia Sinica)

  • Tsui-o Tai

    (National Taipei University)

Abstract

This paper proposes a new index of mothers’ well-being for cross-country comparison. Conceptually, maternal health and the social protection and autonomy of mothers are two distinct dimensions at issue. In operationalization, maternal health is indicated by 1) prevalence of modern contraception, 2) low adolescent fertility; and 3) low maternal mortality. Social protection and autonomy of the mothers comprises (1) skilled attendants at delivery; (2) age at first marriage; and (3) maternal protection policy. The results from structural equation modeling show that a one-factor model is as good as a two-factor model for constructing the Mothers’ Well-being Index (MWI). The MWI’s internal validity and predictive validity are both satisfactory. We calculated the scores for each country and present the ranking of 150 countries for 2010. The mothers in Nordic and Western European countries fared best, and mothers from African countries fared worst. Countries located in the middle of the ranking list should be given more attention because their relative ranking can be contingent on the choice of measures in index construction.

Suggested Citation

  • Ming-Chang Tsai & Tsui-o Tai, 2018. "How are Mothers Faring across the Globe? Constructing a new Mothers’ Well-Being Index and Assessing Its Validity," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 647-670, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:13:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s11482-017-9550-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11482-017-9550-7
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    Cited by:

    1. Ming-Chang Tsai, 2021. "Ming-Chang Tsai: A Pioneer in Comparative Quality of Life Research," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(5), pages 2279-2282, October.

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