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Children and Young Peoples’ Views on Well-Being: A Qualitative Study

The main purpose of the present study was to examine children and young people’s (CYP) perspectives on well-being. In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms through which CYP can flourish, it is necessary to examine the positive indicators of well-being in addition to negative aspects of childhood and adolescence. In doing so, it is important to understand the meanings CYP attach to well-being. We performed 10 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups with children (10-12 years old) and adolescents (15-16 years old) in 2 contrasting schools (different types with different background pupils). We also performed 10 semi- structured interviews and 2 focus groups with young people (16-19 years old) who are representative of different social groups and different levels of civic engagement. The participants of the study were gender balanced. The study strictly followed all of the relevant ethical standards related to research involving CYP. The results of this qualitative study provided a better insight into CYP’s global understanding of well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction by revealing how CYP themselves experience different aspects of well-being, and what they think are the most relevant factors that determine their well-being. The study also demonstrated how the CYP’s family, friends, school, environment, health, and material issues determine their well-being. These findings can be used to address and optimized specific difficulties and challenges of investigating children’s and young people’s well-being.

subjective well-being, qualitative study, children and young people’s perspectives, happiness, life satisfaction

The study was conducted within a large international research project entitled Measuring Youth Well-Being (MYWeB), an EU funded project (European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 ; under grant agreement n° 613, 368) that aims to assess the feasibility of a European Longitudinal Study for Children and Young People, coordinated by prof. Gary Pollock from the Manchester Metropolitan University. For further information please see the project web site: www.fp7-myweb.eu