Kenneth C. Land - The well-being of Americas children : developing and improving the child and youth well-being index

One of these, illustrated by the work of Fattore et al. (, p. 3), attempts to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them.

Using childrens views about their own well-being, Fattore et al. () sought to derive knowledge and insights about domains of life which are more relevant to the children themselves rather than those previously constructed by adults. Based on a sample of 126 children ranging in age from 8 to 15 years, the research was conducted in three stages. The first stage involved either individual or group interviews (depending on participants preferences) on what constitutes well-being and how these definitions relate to the everyday experiences of the participants. These interviews were semistructured and allowed rapport to be built between the researcher and individual participants and also their parents/caregivers. The second stage again involved either individual or group interviews, where the researcher and participants explored dominant themes identified in the first interview, allowing an in-depth dialogue to take place, concerning the significance of the themes identified by the participants. Both these stages employed a range of task-oriented methods (e.g., drawing, collage, and photography) where appropriate. The third stage involved participants completing a task-oriented project, exploring a particular theme or themes important to the individual. These projects included the use of photography, collage, drawing, or journal keeping and provided participants with alternative forms of knowledge creation, directed and controlled by them. Discussions between individual children and researchers about the meanings of their creations, after the completion of the projects, helped to continue to give prominence to childrens own interpretations of well-being.

According to Fattore et al. (, p. 18), this child-participatory approach leads to the conclusion that childrens well-being is defined through feelings , in particular happiness , but that integrating sadness is also relevant. For example, well-being is about feeling secure , particularly in social relations, when relations are harmonious. Well-being also has a moral quality being a moral actor in relation to oneself (when making decisions in ones best interests) and in behaving toward others. Adults are considered as behaving morally when they make decisions in childrens best interests.

The qualitative research approach and empirical findings of Fattore et al. (). This has led to an increased interest in studies of the nature and determinants of the good life. The expectation is that such a science, along with the creation of prevention and intervention programs informed by the expanded scientific framework, can improve the quality of life for all individuals, not just individuals who are at risk or who already demonstrate psychopathological conditions.

To contrast with the previous emphasis on pathological conditions, the development of positive psychology requires constructs and measures that reflect the full range of human functioning, incorporating indicators of high levels of wellness as well as psychopathological functioning. Huebner ().

Since the early work of Andrews and Withey ().

Based on an extensive review of research studies of children and youth (ages 818), Huebner ( in the present volume) concluded that life satisfaction appears to be a useful psychological construct that is related to, but separable from, a variety of other well-being constructs. Global life satisfaction does not represent an isolated characteristic or appraisal tendency of children and/or youth but has broad implications for their intrapersonal and interpersonal adaptation in a variety of life contexts, encompasses the full range of subjective appraisals from very negative to very positive, and complements well-being measures that are limited to negative well-being indicators, such as reports of psychopathological symptoms.