Early social and emotional development is foundational for children’s health, education, well-being, and later adjustment in society. It is also a cornerstone of positive psychology—the exploration of human flourishing at an individual, community, and societal level. Habitual explanatory styles (e.g., mindsets and optimistic thinking) have an impact on human well-being and development and are often acquired during early childhood. These explanatory styles may be influenced by regular interactions with significant adults outside of the family setting. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between optimism, mindsets, and well-being of children in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) contexts. This scoping review systematically explores and maps out the literature on optimism, growth mindsets, and positive psychology with young children in ECEC. It identifies literature reporting qualitatively or quantitatively on theory or programs and interventions including optimism, growth mindset, and positive psychology in young children, reporting or implying a mechanism of change for the well-being of young children, and published between 1995 and 2021.
In the current announcement are presented the results of the third and fourth round of the quantitative research on children’s well-being over time in the Attica region (Greece) and are proposed economic and social policies for maximizing the children’s quality of life. More specifically, during the last years, the previous economic crisis in Greece has had negative effects on the society as a whole. Nowhere are these effects more evident than in the rapid increase of child poverty in the same time period. This study focuses on the various factors in children’s well-being and, by negative inference, on child poverty as reflected in the region of Attica by age group. In this way, it defines conceptually and operationally each of the aforementioned factors. Taking this into account, the presentation briefly discusses outputs of an empirical quantitative research on child poverty in the region of Attica on the basis of a new proposed methodological framework, in order to develop an evidence-based understanding of the multidimensional characteristics, extent and geographic distribution of the aggravation of children’s quality of life in the region of Attica (Greece). Moreover, rounds 3-4, of the quantitative research coincide with the outbreak of the pandemic of COVID-19. From this point of view, it is presented how the current health crisis of COVID-19 has affected children’s well -being in the Attica.
Abstract This study examined the effects of daily parental autonomy support on changes in child behavior, family environment, and parental well-being across 3 weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. Day-to-day associations among autonomy-supportive parenting, parental need fulfillment, and child well-being were also assessed. Parents (longitudinal N = 469; Mage = 42.93, SDage = 6.40) of school children (6–19 years) reported on adjustment measures at two measurement occasions and completed up to 21 daily online questionnaires in the weeks between these assessments. Results from dynamic structural equation models suggested reciprocal positive relations among autonomy-supportive parenting and parental need fulfillment. Daily parental autonomy support, parental need fulfillment, and child well-being partially predicted change in adjustment measures highlighting the central role of daily parenting for children’s adjustment during the pandemic.
Andreas B. Neubauer, Andrea Schmidt, Andrea C. Kramer et al.
This article examines the benefits and challenges of engaging children in environmental citizen science, defined as science conducted by nonspecialists under the direction of professional scientists, to promote social good. Citizen science addresses two central elements of the social good model—environmental justice and inclusion with particular attention to diversity in age, gender, race/ethnicity, and social class in addressing environmental injustice that is more prevalent in underrepresented communities. This article evaluates how participation in citizen science projects focused on the environment (eco-citizen science) benefits the child’s development, contributes to science, and leads to commitment to environmental stewardship and justice as adults. Our work offers a novel contribution to the discourse on social good and social justice through explicitly calling for children to be included in environmental citizen science projects. We examine the benefits and challenges of involving children in scientific projects and discuss implications for policy, practice, and future research.
Building dynamic partnerships between communities and academic institutions, via knowledge exchange, plays a vital role in generating research with mutual benefits for research partners and wider communities. Knowledge exchange between universities and schools has recently received particular interest in child and adolescent mental health research. This article outlines a knowledge exchange programme that involved children, primarily, and teachers and parents/carers in dialogues around school well-being. Using a series of co-created and multimodal creative activities, we: (1) worked closely with 25 students of an inclusive and multicultural primary school (aged 9 to 10 years old) to understand their school well-being experiences, and to co-create a school blog to communicate key messages with local communities; and (2) initiated a discussion around child and school well-being with a group of parents/carers and teachers through expanding on the children’s blog. In this article, we outline our methodology to facilitate children’s involvement with the project well-being activities. We explore key methodological strengths and challenges, and highlight lessons we learned and how these stress the significance of seeking young people’s points of view when designing school well-being initiatives.
Myrofora Kakoulidou, Heba Al-Jayoosi, Maria A. Kambouri et al.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of factors related to well-being among primary school children in a deprived multiethnic community in the UK. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional survey of 15 641 children aged 7-10 years in Born in Bradford's Primary School Years study: whole-classroom samples in 89 Bradford primary schools between 2016 and 2019. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence estimates by ethnicity (%, 95% CI) of single and multiple vulnerabilities in child well-being within and across four domains (Home, Family, Relationships; Material Resources; Friends and School; Subjective Well-being). RESULTS: Only 10% of children had no vulnerabilities in any domain of well-being; 10% had one or more vulnerabilities in all four domains. The highest prevalence estimates were for being bullied some or all of the time (52.7%, 95% CI: 51.9% to 53.4%), keeping worries to oneself (31.2%, 95% CI: 30.5% to 31.9%), having no park near home (30.8%, 95% CI: 30.1% to 31.5%) and worrying all the time about how much money their family has (26.3%, 95% CI: 25.6% to 27%). Boys were consistently significantly more likely than girls to report all of the vulnerabilities in the Home, Family and Family Relationships domain, and the majority of indicators in the other domains, and in all domains except Friends and School, boys were significantly more likely to have at least one vulnerability. Girls were significantly more likely to report not having many friends (16.7%, 95% CI: 15.9% to 17.6% vs 12.5%, 95% CI: 11.8% to 13.2%), being bullied some or all of the time (55.8%, 95% CI: 54.7% to 56.9% vs 49.7%, 95% CI: 48.6% to 50.8%) and feeling left out all the time (12.1%, 95% CI: 11.4% to 12.8%) versus (10.3%, 95% CI: 9.7% to 11.0%). Variations in vulnerabilities by ethnicity were complex, with children in black, Asian and minority ethnic groups sometimes reporting more vulnerabilities and sometimes fewer than white British children. For example, compared with children of Pakistani heritage, white British children were more likely to say that their family never gets along well (6.3%, 95% CI: 5.6% to 7.1% vs 4.1%, 95% CI: 3.6% to 4.6%) and to have no access to the internet at home (22.3%, 95% CI: 21% to 23.6% vs 18%, 95% CI: 17% to 18.9%). Children with Pakistani heritage were more likely than white British children to say they had no park near their home where they can play with friends (32.7%, 95% CI: 31.6% to 33.9% vs 29.9%, 95% CI: 28.6% to 31.3%), to report not having three meals a day (17.9%, 95% CI: 16.9% to 18.8% vs 11.9%, 95% CI: 10.9% to 12.9%) and to worry all the time about how much money their families have (29.3%, 95% CI: 28.2% to 30.3%) vs (21.6%, 95% CI: 20.4% to 22.9%). Gypsy/Irish Traveller children were less likely than white British children to say they were bullied some or all of the time (42.2%, 95% CI: 35.4% to 49.4% vs 53.8%, 95% CI: 52.3% to 55.3%), but more likely to say they were mean to others all the time (9.9%, 95% CI: 6.3% to 15.2% vs 4%, 95% CI: 3.5% to 4.7%) and can never work out what to do when things are hard (15.2%, 95% CI: 10.6% to 21.2% vs 9%, 95% CI: 8.2% to 9.9%). We considered six vulnerabilities to be of particular concern during the COVID-19 pandemic and associated national and local lockdowns: family never gets along well together; no garden where child can play; no nearby park where they can play; not having three meals a day; no internet at home; worried about money all the time. Pre-pandemic, 37.4% (95% CI: 36.6% to 38.3%) of Bradford children had one of these vulnerabilities and a further 29.6% (95% CI: 28.9% to 30.4%) had more than one. CONCLUSIONS: Although most primary school children aged 7-10 in our study had good levels of well-being on most indicators across multiple domains, fewer than 10% had no vulnerabilities at all, a worrying 10% had at least one vulnerability in all the four domains we studied and two-thirds had vulnerabilities of particular concern during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Kate E. Pickett, Mildred Oiza Ajebon, Bo Hou et al.
OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the effects of poverty on child well-being and family functioning among low-income families. Specifically, it explored the role of parental stress, family dynamics, and contextual strain on children's behavioral and emotional outcomes. Using a sample of families receiving welfare support, the research sought to assess the impact of conditional cash transfer programs and the involvement of Child Protective Services on child development and family well-being. METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 99 children aged 8-12 from low-income, welfare-assisted families recruited from the Porto Metropolitan Area. Parental stress, parenting attitudes, family functioning, and child outcomes were assessed using standardized questionnaires. Families with and without Child Protective Services involvement were compared, and a cumulative index of contextual strain was developed to measure the multidimensional impact of stressors on child outcomes. RESULTS: The results revealed that 53% of children exhibited clinical or borderline internalizing behaviors, 47% showed externalizing behaviors, and 39% experienced low psychological well-being. High levels of parental stress, low parenting competence, and significant contextual strain were associated with poorer child outcomes. Families involved with Child Protective Services showed no significant differences in parent or family characteristics, but children from these families exhibited fewer behavioral problems. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights the pervasive impact of poverty and contextual strain on child development, emphasizing the need for more comprehensive interventions. Family functioning and parental stress are critical factors influencing child well-being, pointing to the importance of addressing these areas through targeted welfare and support programs to reduce the intergenerational transmission of poverty and improve child outcomes.
Paula Cristina Martins, Vítor Hugo Pereira Oliveira
International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have had a global influence on education in recent decades, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has played a leading role, most notably with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The organisation's latest ILSA is the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS), a test of five-year-olds, which first reported in 2020. The OECD has portrayed IELS as significant, describing it as ‘a great example’ and the ‘future of assessment’. We locate IELS within the OECD's ILSA testing regime and its extensive critiques. Subsequently, through an analysis of IELS documentation, we explore its rationale and processes and then contrast these with its reported outcomes. We demonstrate that IELS has failed to deliver on its intentions and acutely manifests many of the problems that critics of ILSAs have identified. We argue that IELS has contributed to the waning interest in the OECD's testing regime and that other approaches to comparative research should be given greater attention.
Objective: The paper examines the effects of parental repartnering (including residential and nonresidential partnerships) on children’s well-being. Background: An increasing number of children experience the repartnering of their parents. While previous research has focused on coresidential repartnering, this paper also considers the transition to a steady nonresidential (living apart together – LAT) partnership of formerly single parents. Specifically, the paper examines whether these transitions differ in their effect on children. Method: This study uses data from the German Family Panel (pairfam) to analyze the effects of parental repartnering on children’s emotional and behavioral well-being. The children in the sample were seven to 16 years old. Individual fixed effects regressions were estimated for two types of parental partnership transitions: the formation of a LAT partnership and the formation of a coresidential partnership. Results: The results show that children's emotional symptoms increased in response to both parental LAT repartnering and coresidential repartnering, whereas children’s conduct problems increased only in response to parental coresidential repartnering. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the formation of a nonresidential partnership by a parent can affect children's emotional well-being, and thus should be considered when analyzing post-separation family development.
Abstract There is a lack of validated instruments to evaluate child protection programs in Portugal. The present study analyzed the psychometric characteristics of the Child Well-Being Scales (CWBS), a multidimensional measure of potential situations of abuse and neglect, in 276 families at psychosocial risk. Measures of parental efficiency, satisfaction and parental symptomatology were also collected. Through exploratory factor analysis, a 3-factor solution, similar to the original version was identified, with high levels of internal consistency (α between 0.82-0.86) and good model fit (GFI = 0.97, RMSR = 0.06). Regarding construct validity, significant correlations were found that were in line with theoretical expectation. Our results support the utility of EBI as a guide to the assessment and decision-making regarding child protection measures.
Cristina Nunes, Lara Ayala‐Nunes, Laura Inês Ferreira et al.
