Abstract A comprehensive study of socioeconomic factors affecting the situation of children and families with children in the subjects of RF is a social requirement and an important scientific problem. For these purposes, it is customary to use integral (composite) indices that aggregate the relevant indicators. A retrospective regional analysis of the indices is essential to identify trends and to offer recommendations for improving the well-being of children. In the paper, a method for estimating the child well-being index based on the threshold indicator aggregation model is considered. The results of the experiments are presented by the tables and on a digital cartogram. The study is interdisciplinary in nature with the participation economists, sociologists, mathematicians, IT specialists and practitioners.
A. P. Vaynshtok, E. F. Yurkov, T. N. Yudina et al.
This research examines how child well-being is supported in preschool programs within Republika Srpska, specifically in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina's decentralized education system. Utilizing Bronfenbrenner's ecological model and a qualitative analysis of educators’ perspectives, this study aims to fill a gap in the empirical understanding of how child well-being is implemented in practice. Key factors were identified across different ecological levels: the quality of educator-child relationships and the role of play (micro-level); family-kindergarten partnerships (meso-level); and the impact of decentralization on resources and service quality (exo-level), which creates inequalities. The study emphasizes that achieving full child well-being requires continuous support for educators, substantial investment, and policy adaptation to specific local conditions. The findings highlight the need for a careful review of the implications of decentralized systems globally, pointing to the importance of systemic resource improvement and coordination among various levels of government and educational stakeholders. This research provides crucial insights and recommendations for policy formulation that can contribute to creating more equitable and effective education systems worldwide, with the goal of achieving optimal conditions for the development and well-being of all children.
While a substantial body of literature suggests that lasting community mentoring relationships can have a range of positive effects on youths, little is known about these effects in the Nordic welfare context, where community mentees may have lower risk profiles compared to many previous samples. This study explores how the duration (length) of child mentoring relationships predicts parental perceptions of child well-being among 197 children served by Denmark's most extensive community-based youth mentoring program. We find that children who have had a mentor for at least one year are perceived to have significantly higher well-being. In contrast, we find no significant differences in well-being between children who had mentors for less than one year and children on a waiting list. Previous research, conducted in primarily North American contexts, finds that longer mentoring relationships substantially improve school behavior and reduce risk taking. Our results add to the literature by indicating that a minimum mentoring relationship duration of one year appears to be similarly important in promoting well-being for youths involved in community-based mentoring programs in a Nordic welfare context.
Anna Piil Damm, Emma von Essen, Astrid Jæger Jensen et al.
Healthy, inclusive, and environmentally supportive educational settings are increasingly recognised as relevant to children’s development, well-being, and equity. However, evidence on the physical environment in early childhood education remains fragmented across outdoor spaces, indoor spatial organisation, indoor environmental quality, materials, and contaminant-related conditions. This systematic review aimed to synthesise current evidence on the relationship between the physical environment of early childhood educational settings and multidimensional indicators of child well-being. The protocol was registered in PROSPERO, and the review followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Searches were conducted in Web of Science Core Collection, Scopus, ERIC, and APA PsycInfo. Methodological quality and risk of bias were assessed using ROBINS-I and JBI critical appraisal tools. Eighteen studies were included. Of these, 10 focused on outdoor spaces and schoolyards, five on indoor spaces and spatial organisation, and three on indoor environmental quality, materials, or contaminants. The findings suggest four main interpretive patterns: (i) expanding opportunities for participation through functionally diverse areas and materials; (ii) shaping coexistence and interaction through access to and distribution of resources; (iii) supporting sensory regulation; and (iv) sustaining environmental health and habitability. Overall, more favourable settings were associated with better indicators of activity and play, interaction and coexistence, and involvement and regulation. For indoor environmental quality studies, however, the evidence was mainly indirect, referring to environmental-health, comfort, exposure, or habitability indicators rather than direct child-level well-being outcomes. The certainty of the evidence was moderate to low due to methodological limitations, particularly confounding and selection bias in non-randomised intervention studies and imprecision in the measurement of environmental exposure in several cross-sectional studies. The findings may inform cautious reflection on spatial design, educational practice, and policy, but stronger recommendations require more robust study designs, reproducible exposure metrics, clearer distinction between direct and indirect well-being-related indicators, and comparable outcome measures.
Laura Fornons Casol, Isabel del Arco, Anabel Ramos
This paper prospected the evidence synthesized in meta-analyses on child–parent attachment to discuss its implications for the future of attachment research. Based on the 75 identified meta-analyses, effect size benchmarks may need to be adjusted to small (r = .10), medium (r = .20), and large (r = .30). Topics of attachment meta-analyses predominantly (53%) reflected interest in testing theory. Bibliometric analysis of scientific publications (k = 7,595) that cited these meta-analyses reflect waxing uptake in work on interventions, mental health, and attachment anxiety/avoidance and waning uptake in work on attachment relationships and representations, except for the subtopics of sensitivity and fathers. Prospects for scientifically rigorous research are to be found in engagement with stakeholders working to address important societal challenges. Promoting nurturing care and reducing harm in child welfare contain “Goldilocks-problems” that are amenable to incremental progress while simultaneously advancing theory and methods.
Carlo Schuengel, Marije L. Verhage, Robbie Duschinsky
A poor start in life shapes children's development over the life-course. Children from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are exposed to low levels of early stimulation, greater socioeconomic deprivation and persistent environmental and health challenges. Nevertheless, little is known about country-specific factors affecting early childhood development (ECD) in LMICs. Using data from 68 LMICs collected as part of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys between 2010 and 2018, along with other publicly available data sources, we employed a multivariate linear regression analysis at a national level to assess the association between the average Early Childhood Development Index (ECDI) in children aged 3-5 and country-level ecological characteristics: early learning and nurturing care and socioeconomic and health indicators. Our results show that upper-middle-income country status, attendance at early childhood education (ECE) programs and the availability of books at home are positively associated with a higher ECDI. Conversely, the prevalence of low birthweight and high under-5 and maternal mortality are negatively associated with ECDI nationally. On average, LMICs with inadequate stimulation at home, higher mortality rates and without mandatory ECE programs are at greater risks of poorer ECDI. Investment in early-year interventions to improve nurturing care and ECD outcomes is essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals.
Kasim Allel, Gerard Joseph Abou Jaoude, Stavros Poupakis et al.
In a sample of 369 children from low-income neighborhoods in Germany (Mage = 8.49 years; 50.41% female), we (1) investigated changes in children’s executive functions (EFs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and (2) explored whether families’ nurturing care could protect children’s EFs. We repeatedly examined children before and after a six-month lockdown period with school closures in late 2020 and mid-2021. We used the Flanker/Reverse Flanker Task to assess subdomains of children’s EFs (cognitive flexibility, effortful inhibition, selective attention), and we asked home-room teachers about families’ capacities to provide nurturing care. Multi-level modeling showed that task performances requiring cognitive flexibility and effortful inhibition deteriorated throughout the lockdown period while selective attention improved. The deterioration in effortful inhibition occurred in children with lower levels of nurturing care only. Our study suggests multidirectional effects of pandemic-related adversity on the EFs of socioeconomically disadvantaged children. Future research should distinguish between the effects of environmental adversity on bottom-up versus top-down dominated EFs.
ABSTRACT This article presents the findings of a small‐scale qualitative study exploring the experiences of Foster Carers looking after unaccompanied asylum‐seeking children (UASC) who are identified or suspected victims of child trafficking (‘UASTC’—unaccompanied asylum‐seeking and trafficked children). Through in‐depth interviews with six fostering families and one specialist Social Worker, key themes include a lack of specialist training and support from skilled Social Work professionals, the significance of the role of the Foster Carer in the identification and management of risk, the challenges of supporting children through the asylum process, and the resulting emotional toll on Foster Carers. Notwithstanding the challenges encountered, Foster Carers derived a sense of fulfilment from the role. The study's findings should be read cautiously due to the small sample size and regional focus. Despite this, resulting considerations for fostering agencies could include exploring specialised care pathways for UASTC that integrate trauma‐informed support, offering reflective supervision and bespoke training for carers and professionals, and providing access to peer support networks. Recommendations for future research include explorations of the first‐hand experiences of UASTC and the variety of placements they inhabit.
The rising prevalence of autism internationally has been accompanied by an increased appreciation of the poorer mental health experienced by people with this condition and also of their family care-givers. In particular, higher incidences of anxiety and depression are reported in high-income nations and these conditions are likely to be under-recognised and under-reported in lower-resourced regions or countries. Mainstream mental health services seem to be ill-equipped to respond adequately to the needs of autistic persons and their care-givers. This literature review of 29 recently published reviews covering nearly 1000 journal articles summarises the insights and strategies that have been shown to promote the mental health and emotional wellbeing of autistic persons. In particular, a focus on family-centred, community-based supports is recommended that aim to enhance social communication, extend social connections and promote an individual's self-esteem, self-determination and social motivation. These low-cost interventions are especially pertinent in low-resourced settings, but they can be used internationally to prevent mental illness and assist in the treatment of anxiety and depression in autistic persons and their family carers. The priority is to focus on primary-care responses with cross-sectoral working rather than investing in high-cost psychiatric provision.
Abstract All schools possess a duty of care towards their students. However, this duty of care falls unevenly across schools, with those serving low-income communities often responding to the material and psychological effects of poverty as a priority. This duty of care for such schools was placed into stark relief during the period of COVID-19 school closures, when structural inequalities in society became particularly pronounced. Previous research has drawn distinctions between different forms of caring enacted in schools serving low-income communities. These range from practices centred on children’s academic learning to those more concerned with children’s welfare and well-being—which, for the purposes of this paper, we term as academic nurturing and affective nurturing respectively. Others recognise the need for schools in low-income communities to perform a dual role and engage in both forms of nurturing simultaneously—which we term as critical nurturing. This paper presents findings based on case studies from three designated disadvantaged primary schools in Ireland during pandemic-related closures. It draws on interviews from the Children’s School Lives longitudinal study with the teachers, principals, and families of four Junior Infant children (typically aged four to five years). Our findings suggest a typology of nurturing pedagogies, with academic and affective nurturing emphasised to varying degrees across our three schools during this period. Narratives from interviewees also demonstrate the central role of school culture and leadership in achieving critical nurturing, with significant social justice implications for the education of children in schools serving low-income communities.
Seán Gleasure, Dympna Devine, Gabriela Martínez Sainz et al.
