Seventh in a series of annual reports about how children in the UK feel about their lives, produced in collaboration between The Children’s Society and the University of York. The report draws on the results of The Children's Society's household surveys, Understanding Society and the Millennium Cohort Study. The report reviews the latest figures and time trends in children’s self-reported wellbeing, and the gender differences that are evident for these. It also presents new analysis of factors related to family, friends and appearance to try to explain gender differences in children’s well-being. It also explores different measures of well-being and mental ill-health to see how these relate to behaviours such as self-harm, truancy and physical activity. Looking at trends, the report finds that between 1995 and 2016, there has been a significant increase in happiness with family and schoolwork and no significant change in happiness with life as a whole or friends and no significant change in happiness with appearance. The largest gender differences are for appearance (with which boys are happier) and schoolwork (with which girls are happier).
(Edited publisher abstract)
Seventh in a series of annual reports about how children in the UK feel about their lives, produced in collaboration between The Children’s Society and the University of York. The report draws on the results of The Children's Society's household surveys, Understanding Society and the Millennium Cohort Study. The report reviews the latest figures and time trends in children’s self-reported wellbeing, and the gender differences that are evident for these. It also presents new analysis of factors related to family, friends and appearance to try to explain gender differences in children’s well-being. It also explores different measures of well-being and mental ill-health to see how these relate to behaviours such as self-harm, truancy and physical activity. Looking at trends, the report finds that between 1995 and 2016, there has been a significant increase in happiness with family and schoolwork and no significant change in happiness with life as a whole or friends and no significant change in happiness with appearance. The largest gender differences are for appearance (with which boys are happier) and schoolwork (with which girls are happier).
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
children, gender, happiness, wellbeing, mental health problems, surveys, user views, young people, self-harm;
Fifth in a series of annual reports about how children in the UK feel about their lives, produced in collaboration between The Children’s Society and the University of York. The report draws on the results of The Children's Society's household surveys, Understanding Society and the Millennium Cohort Study. The report examines how children’s well-being is changing over time, and the gender patterns emerging; the relationship between subjective well-being and mental ill-health; local area differences in children’s well-being and the characteristics of local areas linked to levels of wellbeing; and factors associated with child subjective wellbeing. Looking at trends, the report finds that between 2009 and 2014, there has been an increase in happiness with school work and school, and a decrease in happiness with friends and appearance, with girls being particularly unhappy with their appearance. In relation to local area differences, the report found little evidence that children living in areas categorised as having higher levels of deprivation had lower subjective well-being. It found that children’s own experiences of their local area were much more closely linked with their subjective well-being than traditional social indicators. The report concludes that the factors which affect adults’ subjective well-being do not necessarily affect children’s subjective well-being in the same way and in order to understand variations in children’s subjective well-being it is essential to gather information directly from them about their lives.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Fifth in a series of annual reports about how children in the UK feel about their lives, produced in collaboration between The Children’s Society and the University of York. The report draws on the results of The Children's Society's household surveys, Understanding Society and the Millennium Cohort Study. The report examines how children’s well-being is changing over time, and the gender patterns emerging; the relationship between subjective well-being and mental ill-health; local area differences in children’s well-being and the characteristics of local areas linked to levels of wellbeing; and factors associated with child subjective wellbeing. Looking at trends, the report finds that between 2009 and 2014, there has been an increase in happiness with school work and school, and a decrease in happiness with friends and appearance, with girls being particularly unhappy with their appearance. In relation to local area differences, the report found little evidence that children living in areas categorised as having higher levels of deprivation had lower subjective well-being. It found that children’s own experiences of their local area were much more closely linked with their subjective well-being than traditional social indicators. The report concludes that the factors which affect adults’ subjective well-being do not necessarily affect children’s subjective well-being in the same way and in order to understand variations in children’s subjective well-being it is essential to gather information directly from them about their lives.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
children, wellbeing, happiness, user views, surveys, young people, mental health problems, gender;