Measuring and Monitoring Children's Well-Being (Social Indicators Research Series) [Hardcover]

Asher Ben-Arieh (Author), Natalie Hevener Kaufman (Author), Arlene Bowers Andrews (Author), Robert M. George (Author), Bong Joo Lee (Author), L. J. Aber (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0792367898 | ISBN-13: 978-0792367895 | Publication Date: February 28, 2001 | Edition: 1

This book is an outcome of a very innovative and unique endeavor: that of the international project "Measuring and Monitoring Children's Well-Being", which involved some 80 experts from 27 countries working together for four years to redefine the concept of children's well-being and to suggest new indicators - beyond survival and basic needs - to measure and monitor the status of children. The reader will find a sound rationale for conducting such studies and for a consistent and thorough attempt to study and monitor children's well-being. Furthermore, the book presents the most extensive analysis to date of the current field of child well-being indicators and the various projects and studies that are currently under way. A newly defined context for children's well-being is presented, as well as a set of five "new" domains and some 49 indicators that are recommended for measuring and monitoring children's well-being. Finally, the book discusses how such indicators could be used in the communities where children are living and in the policy making process in order to promote children's well-being. Readership: Sociologists, anthropologists, social psychologists, social workers, social paedagogues, social paediatricians and other child-related professionals.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'This is an easy to read book with good information for professionals searching to find ways to measure and monitor well-being in today's children and adolescents.' International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 14 (2002)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (February 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792367898
• ISBN-13: 978-0792367895
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,951,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Measuring and monitoring children's well-being, February 16, 2002

By 

Joav Merrick (Israel) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Measuring and Monitoring Children's Well-Being (Social Indicators Research Series) (Hardcover)

This book is the product of international work since 1994 among close to 80 professionals from 27 countries in order to re-define and bring consensus to the issue of measuring and monitoring the status of children in our societies.
For many years many countries have gathered information and statistics about their children, but mostly in the area of basic needs and survival. This book and the international project is going beyond and looking at indicators to measure and monitor the well-being of our children. A task not easy to come about, but important, because it will provide important information, knowledge, tools for better planning and make monitoring more possible, when you have hard facts to compare with.
This book has nine chapters: Rationale for measuring child well- being, existing efforts around the world, basic guidelines, five new domains, indicators, how to measure, the community level, making of policy and summary with an agenda for future efforts in this field.
The message of the book is the importance of measurements of child well-being finding indicators that you will be able to monitor over time both improvements and change. The new approach can be described as looking at well-being instead of just survival, from negative aspects to positive aspects of child life, from well-becoming to well-being and from traditonal to new domains. The five new domains the authors propose are in childrens activities, childrens economic resources and contribution, civic life skills, personal life skills, and safety and physical status with 49 indicators.
This is an easy-to-read book with good information for professionals trying to find ways to measure and monitor well-being in todays children and adolescents.

Professor Joav Merrick, MD
Medical director, Division for Mental Retardation, Box 1260, IL-91012 Jerusalem, Israel. E-mail: [e-mail]