The temporary monthly child tax credit implemented in 2021 had the potential to affect many aspects of child and family well-being, including poverty, hardship, use of food pantries, spending on child-related items, and parents’ mental health and employment. The authors assess these effects using data from two longitudinal studies of well-being in New York City. They find that the monthly child tax credit led to significant declines in the risk for facing material hardship, multiple hardships, running out of money, and using food pantries. The authors do not find evidence of significant changes in parents’ mental health, employment, or spending on childcare or enrichment activities.
Sophie M. Collyer, Jill Gandhi, Irwin Garfinkel et al.
The well-being of children and adolescents is emerging as an area of interest for population health measurement. Previous approaches assessing national and state trends in well-being have relied on composite indices. However, these methodologies suffer from several weaknesses. This paper develops an improved index for the United States that is measurable with existing population-data resources. It derives the appropriate weights for items in this index using a longitudinal panel of 2,942 children in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Candidate component measures are selected for the index based on their demonstrated association with several subjective scales assessed during young adulthood. The final index demonstrates that a broad range of measures indicate higher levels of population-level well-being. The predictive validity of the index for outcomes during young adulthood is also assessed: a one-standard-deviation increase in the index score is associated with a 7.9-percentage-point decrease [95% CI: 5.9 - 9.8] in ever reporting fair or poor health, a 6.3-percentage-point decrease [95% CI: 4.6 - 8.0] in ever reporting depression, and a 17.2% [95% CI: 13.7% - 20.5%] increase in peak earnings. These values for predictive validity are slightly higher than those of existing methodologies. We also find that incorporating contextual indicators from childhood and adolescence does not substantively improve predictive validity. Policy-makers and government agencies interested in population-level well-being of children and adolescents can continue to use existing indices as reasonable proxies, but should also commit to upgrading data systems to make them more child-centric in the future. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12187-022-09962-0.
Nathaniel Anderson, Anna J. Markowitz, Daniel Eisenberg et al.
While some food brands seek to deploy a well-being promise in their communications, this article aims to define the profile of a food well-being that respects young consumers’ needs. The study tackles the concept of well-being from a children-centered perspective, based on advertising content and analyzing children’s responses through the lens of positive psychology. It thus highlights how brands may promote food well-being toward children while respecting the child’s specificities. It shows that, from the children’s perspective, food generates objective and subjective as well as transient and durable well-being. While reminding us of the effect of food on vitality, health, sensory, and social pleasure, it specifically advocates considering the child as an actor of his/her food consumption and valuing his/her needs for autonomy, responsibility, and strong affective links as sources of well-being.
Disabilities have been proved to negatively affect not only the diagnosed child, but also the family as a whole. Parents’ daily strive to cope with child’s disabilities generate negative feelings like frustration, impotence, and intolerance, as well as lower overall psychological well-being (Cramm & Nieboer, 2011; Ha et al., 2008). Literature underlines that mothers are especially exposed to emotional overload and distress deriving from the strains and perceived failures in providing assistance to their disabled child (Lee, 2013). Maternal wellbeing is particularly important because of its relations with unfavourable parenting practices, poor school performance, and child health problems (Yamaoka et al., 2016). A growing evidence indicates that forgiving oneself for misconducts or mistakes, for which a person feels responsible, helps to reduce their negative effects upon personal and relational well-being (Pelucchi et al., 2017; Whol et al, 2008). However only scant evidence is available on the protective function of self-forgiveness among primary caregivers of disabled persons. The present research intends to address this shortcoming by investigating self-forgiveness among mothers (n=93) having a child with learning disabilities and providing data via questionnaire. Mothers’ self-forgiveness for perceived mistakes done in dealing with their child’s disabilities was expected to be related to their psychological well-being and parenting behaviors both directly and indirectly, through the mediation of the distress and skillfulness experienced while providing learning assistance to the child. Results will be discussed in terms of the need to consider self-forgiveness when planning interventions for increasing well-being among disabled children’s caregivers.
Sara Pelucchi, Giorgia Finardi, Francesca Giorgia Paleari et al.
Children’s socioemotional and cognitive development is shaped by the contexts in which they grow. As a key developmental setting, school influences both well-being and the emergence of sociocognitive skills such as executive function (EF). This study explored whether school contexts aligned with Lillard’s (2023) Child-Environment Interplay (CEI) model and Teacher-Text-Centered (TTC) model show differential patterns in the relationship between EF and school well-being. A total of 105 children from preschool and primary school participated (NCEI = 84; NTTC = 41). EF was assessed through three tasks assesing inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. School well-being was evaluated using a child-report scale that included items on engagement, school environment, and aggression. Results revealed no significant differences between school types in overall levels of EF or WB. However, interaction effects indicated that the effect of well-being on EF differs between school contexts: in TTC contexts, but not in CEI, higher EF was associated with lower WB. Moreover, across both contexts, children with higher EF reported higher perceptions of aggression. A complementary qualitative analysis of the WB instrument highlights the importance of adapting school well-being measures from a child-centered perspective. These findings suggest that the interplay between children’s cognitive skills and their educational context matters, and that child-centered environments may buffer potentially negative effects of EF-related sensitivity.
Laura González, Marina Oliva Lozano, María Jesús Pardo‐Guijarro et al.
Purpose This study aims to bridge the gaps in the existing literature by studying the links between children's development and the subjective well-being of the caregivers using first-hand data collected in rural China. Design/methodology/approach Although the broad array of literature has examined the effects of child development on the subjective well-being of caregivers, the relationship between early childhood development and caregiver subjective well-being has not been well-studied using sample families with potential developmental delay in rural China. Also, existing research has relied on maternal reports to evaluate the developmental status of children. The study used data collected from 32 townships in seven nationally designated poverty counties in the Qinling mountainous area in 2016. The authors measure child development using the social-emotional module of the Ages & Stages Questionnaire and Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development–Third Edition. Findings The authors find that child development indicators are correlated with caregiver subjective well-being. In particular, social-emotional skills are positively associated with life evaluations and positive emotion. However, we do not find any significant correlation between child development and negative emotion or depression, anxiety and stress scores. Originality/value The value of this study is to report the indicators of child development in rural China and examines the correlation between child development and caregivers' subjective well-being.
This study evaluates the impact of introducing the Maternity Capital (MC) program-a child subsidy of 250,000 Rub (7,150 euros or 10,000 USD, in 2007)-provided to mothers giving birth to/adopting a second or subsequent child since January 2007. Eligible Russian families could use this subsidy to improve family housing conditions, fund child's education/childcare, or invest in the mother's retirement fund. This study evaluates the impact of MC eligibility on various child health and developmental outcomes, household consumption patterns, and housing quality. Using data from the representative Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey 2010-2017, I tested regression discontinuity models and found that MC eligibility may have led to a small improvement in child health status, which could be explained by improved housing conditions, particularly in rural areas. However, children living in MC-eligible families were also more likely to report reduced socialisation. Heterogeneity analysis by child gender, household poverty status, and urban/rural residence suggests that MC incentives may have had a differential impact on some analysed outcomes. Results are robust to different polynomial and nonparametric RDD specifications.
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) has become an increasingly important element of the U.S. safety net. We discuss the structure of the CTC and its effects on childhood poverty and other indicators of well-being during its three distinct phases: prior to the 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) expansion, during the expansion, and after the expansion’s expiration. We also examine recent efforts to establish state-level CTCs. We show that, in 2020, roughly one in three children were ineligible for the full CTC because it is tied to family earnings. The temporary expansion under the ARP extended full CTC eligibility to nearly all of these children, thus moving more than three million children out of poverty in the expansion months. State-level analyses show how states could establish CTCs that reduce child poverty rates by half, either as a complement to an expanded federal CTC or in the absence of a continued federal expansion.
Sophie M. Collyer, Megan A. Curran, Irwin Garfinkel et al.
The article presents an analytical review of modern foreign studies devoted to the psychological effects, mechanisms and patterns of influence of children and parenthood on the psychological well-being of adults. Based on the generalization of the results of individual theoretical and empirical studies, systematic and meta-analytical reviews, the history of formation, current state and prospects for the development of this scientific direction are considered. The most general and stably reproducible patterns of the impact of children and parenthood on various components (cognitive, affective, motivational), levels (global, domain, subdomain) and types (hedonic, eudaimonic, existential) of psychological well-being of adults are formulated. Additional and intermediate variables acting as mediators and moderators of the dependence of psychological well-being of adults on children and the parental role are identified. It is shown that the key integrative factor mediating this dependence is the personal meaning of the child for an adult, which determines the strength, direction and form of the influence of children and parental status on psychological well-being. Based on the results of the analytical revision and critical assessment of the current state of the problem, it is argued that a promising line of its development is the construction of a psychological concept of the personal meaning of a child for an adult.
Abstract The main objective of this study was to explore the status of social behavior practices for child protection and well‐being among low‐income urban households in Bangladesh. This study used a survey method, and data were collected through a face‐to‐face structured interview from 378 low‐income household heads from 12 wards (Konabari and Kashimpur) of Zone 5 of the Gazipur City Corporation. Results found that the current status of the presence of child protection services is very low (in many cases, this number is zero except children having birth registered). A significant number (55%) of them were married between 15 and 19 years. The study found a low level of access on the components of social behaviors where around 50% to 60% caregivers stated 4 benefits of key behaviors, necessity of hand washing after defecation and before and after taking a meal, the age of boys and girls to get married off, and know the effect and consequences of child marriage. The chi‐squared tests confirmed extremely high significance in almost all of the components. Findings will be an important guideline for the policymakers, child service practitioners, and human rights workers.
M. Rezaul Islam, Fakir Al Gharaibeh, Azlinda Azman et al.
