Indicators of Children's Well-Being: Theory and Practice in a Multi-Cultural Perspective

ISBN-13: 9781402093036 / Angielski / Twarda / 2008 / 590 str.

Asher Ben-Arieh; Ivar Frones

Opis

The measuring and monitoring children's well-being is of growing importance to policymakers and those who strive to improve the lives of children everywhere. In the last decade, public attention has centered on children, a development driven by decreasing fertility in the most developed countries of the world and the postindustrial emphasis on human capital development. These developments position children at the center of the future capacity of a nation or region. Children have increasingly been identified as subjects with rights and entitlements of their own, as illustrated by the U. N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which emphasizes a child's right to develop his or her capacities. The CRC represents a milestone both in the understanding of children and in offering principles and guidelines for policies. The rights underscored by the convention require evidence on children's well-being and theories or models for understanding their evolving capacities and development. The right to develop one's capacities illustrates a complexity of analyzing children's well-being: the analysis must encapsulate both the current standard of living and the potential for growth and future fulfillment arising from present conditions. Of course, systematic statistics on children have existed for a long time. However, new development in data and analytic resources and growing interest in childhood among social scientists have combined to advance child well-being to the forefront of research.

Spis treści

Introduction.- Preface.- Opening Chapter: 1. The Child Indicators Movement: Past, Present and Future; A. Ben-Arieh. - Section 1: Conceptualizing Indicators of Children Well-Being. - 2. Theorizing Indicators on Indicators, Signs, and Trends; I. Frønes. - 3. Children's Conceptualisation(s) of their Well-Being; T. Fattore, J. Mason, and E. Watson. - 4. Achieving Consensus in Developing a National Set of Child Well-Being Indicators; S. Hanafin, A.M. Brooks. - 5. Young People's Perception of Being Safe - Globally & Locally; C. Fabiansson. - 6. Self-Reported Fears as Indicators of Young Children's Well-Being in Societal Change: A Cross-Cultural Perspective; A.R. Lahikainen, M. Taimalu, P. Korhonen, and I. Kraav. - 7. What should we know about Children in Armed Conflict and how should we go about knowing it?; J. Pedersen, T. Sommerfelt. - 8. The Values Adolescents Aspire to, Their Well-Being and the Values Parents Aspire for Their Children; F. Cases, C. Figuer, M. González, and S. Malo. - Section 2: Types of Indicators. - 9. Longitudinal Indicators: Beyond the Snapshot; K.A. Moore, S. Vandivere. - 10. The Well-Being of Twelve to Sixteen Year-Old Adolescents and their Parents: Results from 1999 and 2003 Spanish Samples; F. Casas, C. Figuer, M. Gonzálex, S. Malo, C. Alsinet, and S. Subarroca. - 11. Self-reports of Child Maltreatment in the U.S.: A Key Social Indicator; J.E. Kesner. - 12. The Potential Role of Conflict Resolution Schemas in Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment; G. Jutengren, K. Palmèrus. - 13. Monitoring Indicators of Children's Victimization in School: Linking National-, Regional-, and Site-level Indicators; R. Benbenisti, R. Astor. - Section 3: Indices of Children Well Being. - 14. Indicators and Indices of ChildWell-Being: A Brief American History; L.H. Lippman. - 15. Measuring trends in Child Well-Being: An Evidence-Based Approach; K.C. Land, V.L. Lamb, S.O. Meadows, and A. Taylor. - 16. An Index of Child Well-being in the European Union; J. Bradshaw, P. Hoelscher, and D. Richardson. - 17. An Index of the Condition of Children: The Ideal and a Less-then-Ideal Example; K.A. Moore, L. Lippman, S. Vandivere, C. McPhee, and M. Bloch. - Section 4: Using Indicators for Local, National and Comparative Studies. - 18. Health Outcomes for Children in Canada, England, Norway and the United States; S. Phipps. - 19. Child and Family Outcomes in New York and Tel Aviv: Using Social Indicators in a City Level Comparative Analysis; A. Ben-Arieh, J. Gal, L. Nepomnyaschy, and I. Garfinkel. - 20. Reporting on Children's Well-Being: the State of London's Children reports; S. Hood. - 21. Using Child and Family Indicators to Influence Communities and Policy in Los Angeles County; J. McCroskey, J. Milner. - 22. Native American Kids: American Indian Children's Well-Being Indicators for The Nation and Two States; A.A.A. Willeto. - 23. Neighborhood Characteristics, Parenting, and Children's Safety; J.R. McDonell. - 24. Indicators of Child Well-Being through a Neighborhood Lens; J. Korbin, C. Culton.

O autorze

Asher Ben-Arieh, Ph.D., is a senior-lecturer at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and since 2007 he is the Head of the Joseph J. Schwartz M.A. Programs in early childhood and non-profit management.
As of 1990 Dr. Ben-Arieh served as the project director and editor of the annual "State of the Child in Israel - a Statistical Abstract.". Dr. Ben-Arieh initiated and coordinated the Multi-national Project, "Measuring and Monitoring Children's Well-Being." He was among the founding members of the International Society for Children Indicators (ISCI) and was recently elected to be its first co-chair.
Dr. Ben-Arieh is one of the leading international experts on social indicators, particularly as they relate to child well-being, he has published extensively on the politics of social policy and child well being in Israel, and on child well being indicators and its measurement. He serves on the management committee of the EU child welfare research network and the UN Secretary General advisory network on social indicators.
Dr. Ben-Arieh is the founding editor in chief of the Child Indicators Research (CIR) journal and the Children well being: Research and Indicators book series.

Blurb

The original articles presented in this book represent both a set of analyses of families, peers, schooling, communities and the broader social and economic environment of childhood, and an illustration of how the use of indicators enhances understanding of children’s risks and well-being. Covering a broad range of topics, from the theorizing of children’s well-being to the development of measures at local and national level, the book also outlines pivotal methodological and conceptual issues. A distinguished, international group of researchers provide insights into the dynamics of children’s well-being, using indicators as a means to confront new phenomena as well as to bridge data and theory.

Both because of its perspectives on childhood and children’s well-being and the range of topics covered, this book will be of value to researchers and students of the social sciences, as well as to policymakers and professionals in related fields.

Reprinted from Social Indicators Research, 80.1, 83.1 and 84.3 and Child Indicators Research, 1.1 (2008).