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Variations in Children’s Affective Subjective Well-Being at Seven Years Old: an Analysis of Current and Historical Factors

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  • Gwyther Rees

    (Cardiff University)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Gwyther Rees, 2019. "Variations in Children’s Affective Subjective Well-Being at Seven Years Old: an Analysis of Current and Historical Factors," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(1), pages 141-160, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:12:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s12187-017-9516-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-017-9516-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sergiu Bălțătescu & Tomasz Strózik & Kadri Soo & Dagmar Kutsar & Dorota Strózik & Claudia Bacter, 2023. "Subjective Well-being of Children Left Behind by Migrant Parents in Six European Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(5), pages 1941-1969, October.
    2. Ioannis Katsantonis & Beatriz Barrado & Ros McLellan & Gregorio Gimenez, 2024. "Subjective Well-Being and Bullying Victimisation: A Cross-National Study of Adolescents in 64 Countries and Economies," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(4), pages 1563-1585, August.
    3. Saswati Das & Diganta Mukherjee, 2023. "Multidimensional Deprivation from Children’s Perspectives: A Cross-National Comparative Analysis," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(3), pages 1097-1136, June.
    4. Saswati Das & Diganta Mukherjee & Trina Guha Thakurta & Sahin Haque, 2024. "Multidimensional Child Poverty in the City of Kolkata: Construction and Identification from the Perspective of 8 years old School-going Children," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(5), pages 2149-2173, October.
    5. Ana Blasco-Belled & Mònica González-Carrasco & Ferran Casas, 2023. "Filling the 8-Year-Old Gap in the Study of Well-Being: Cross-Cultural Assessment and Validation of a Subjective Well-Being Measure Across 19 Countries," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(3), pages 1363-1380, June.

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