Measuring trends in child well-being: an evidence-based approach |
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Authors: | Kenneth C Land Vicki L Lamb Sarah O Meadows Ashley Taylor |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Sociology, Duke University, 268 Sociology–Psychology Building, P.O. Box 90088, Durham, NC 27708-0088, USA |
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Abstract: | This paper first reviews the goals of the founding documents of the social indicators and quality-of-life movements of the
1960s and 1970s. It next describes the current state of knowledge with respect to the founding goals of this field. The focus
then turns to the topic of measuring changes in child and youth well-being in the United States over the past few decades.
In particular, the evidence-based approach used in the construction of the recently developed composite Child and Youth Well-Being
Index (CWI) is described. Some findings from the CWI regarding changes in child and youth well-being in the period 1975–2004
are reported. Trends in the CWI then are compared with data on trends in subjective well-being of high school seniors – similarities
of trends in these two series provide validating support for the interpretation of the CWI as an index of changes in the quality-of-life
of children and youth. Using data on some additional indicator series, most of which were initiated in the 1990s, an Expanded
CWI is then described. The qualitative pattern of change in the expanded CWI is shown to be similar to that of the basic CWI,
except that the expanded CWI shows a more pronounced decline in the early-1990s and a slower rate of improvement into the
early-2000s. The paper concludes with some possible directions for future work.
Revision of a paper presented at the Measuring Child Well-Being: The Pros and Cons of Composite Indices Session, American
Statistical Association Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, MN, August 7–11, 2005. We thank Kristin Moore for useful comments. The
research on the Child and Youth Well-Being Index reported herein was supported by a grant from the Foundation for Child Development. |
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Keywords: | child well-being indices quality of life |
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