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The Importance of Subjective Measurements in Child and Youth Well-Being Studies
Thalia Hirsch, Britta Busse ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This paper discusses the importance of including subjective measurements of well-being in longitudinal studies of children and youth in Europe. The authors argue that existing surveys rarely incorporate subjective indicators, despite their recognised value. They present theoretical and measurement considerations for a proposed European longitudinal study called EuroCohort designed to track trends in child and youth well-being over time. The paper emphasises that subjective measures provide important insights across different domains of well-being that objective measures alone cannot capture.
Key points
- Few comparative and longitudinal studies have incorporated subjective well-being indicators despite recognising their relevance
- Subjective measurements provide added value to child and youth well-being surveys across different domains
- A European longitudinal study (EuroCohort) is needed to reveal long-term trends in child and youth well-being
- The paper presents considerations on suitable theoretical approaches and their interrelation to measurement concepts
Limitations
This is a conceptual paper about study design and measurement rather than a report of empirical findings or evaluation of interventions. It does not present data on actual child well-being outcomes or test any intervention effectiveness.
Abstract
Considering changing political landscapes and societies’ needs in Europe, we argue for establishing a European longitudinal study on child and youth well-being revealing new trends in a longterm perspective. As a part of an international research team, we worked on preparing this study, called EuroCohort. By doing so, we were concerned with choosing theoretical as well as measurement concepts to capture (child and youth) well-being in a way that is needed in order to shed light on Europe’s future generation. In this paper, we present our considerations on suitable theoretical approaches and their interrelation to measurement concepts. Thereby, our focus lies on the question how subjective measurement concepts can provide added value to child and youth well-being surveys. Although the relevance of subjective measures of well-being is recognised, so far hardly any comparative and longitudinal studies have incorporated corresponding indicators. This paper emphasises the need for implementing subjective measurements in studies on child and youth well-being, respecting their value for different well-being domains.