Peer-reviewed article
The Capability Approach and Child Well-Being: A Systematic Literature Review
Mónica Domínguez Serrano, Lucía del Moral-Espín ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This article is a systematised review of research from the last two decades that uses the capability approach to study children and childhood. The authors searched the main international databases and identified 63 journals that have published such work. Most publications are recent, and the methods and contexts studied have grown more varied. Education is a main interest, and the topics are grouped into 10 categories. The authors then look more closely at the papers on child well-being, which are mostly quantitative and mostly set in European contexts.
Key points
- 63 journals were identified as having published capability-approach articles on children over the last two decades.
- Most publications are concentrated in recent years, with more varied methods and contexts.
- Education appears to be one of the main interests of this literature.
- The topics studied were summarised in 10 categories.
- Within the child well-being papers, quantitative approaches and European contexts are predominant.
Limitations
Only the abstract is available, so we cannot see the detailed findings, the search criteria or the quality of the reviewed studies. The review is of literature rather than an evaluation of any intervention, and it names no specific country (the Spain hint is not confirmed in the text).
Abstract
Abstract Child well-being is a dynamic concept currently under revision due to its complexity and the need to incorporate traditionally overlooked perspectives. An essential aspect of this revision is considering children as active agents in defining the concept itself and incorporating new elements that enrich the more traditional economics-based and adult-centred conceptualisation. In these regards, the capability approach (CA) provides valuable theoretical support for an expanded understanding of child well-being. Therefore, this article aims to offer a systematised review of the literature from the last two decades that uses this approach in examining children and childhood. To do so, the authors examined the main international databases and conducted relevant additional searches, identifying 63 journals that have published capabilitarian articles over the last two decades. Our findings show that most publications concentrate on recent years, with an expansion of the methodologies used and the contexts addressed. Although education seems to be one of the primary interests of this literature, there has also been an increasing range of children’s realities and topics observed that we summarised in 10 categories. Between then, we dig deeper into the subsegment that specifically addresses the category of child well-being. Our review reveals that quantitative approaches and European contexts are predominant within these papers, and we analyse how they concern different spaces, well-being dimensions and intersectionalities.