Child Well-Being: Evolution of a Notion, Ambiguities of Dimensions and Measures

This article reviews international research on what shapes child well-being and how it is measured. It also analyses some major international databases a second time to look for mechanisms that remain unexplained. The authors propose hypotheses to explain why high public and social investment in children's policies does not always match children's own reported well-being. They stress the quality of communication between parents and adolescents as important for subjective well-being. They call for more qualitative research.

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