Children’s subjective well-being. Lessons learned by considering children as key-informants

Abstract

This article analyzes some of the considered most outstanding results of the scientific research on children’s and adolescents’ subjective well-being (SWB) the last two decades when representative samples at population level are used. Emphasis has been placed on the most unexpected results and on findings that would not have been possible without giving children credibility as key informants in their own lives, as well as on cross-cultural comparability. The historical context of SWB studies in general is superficially revised, pointing out the huge evolving delay of children’s SWB studies in comparison with adults’ SWB studies. It is suggested that the background of this situation may be related to the low relevance given to the children’s population in the political context, and, consequently, to the low interest of having availability to subjective social indicators on childhood at population level. Consistently, the utility and importance of such indicators for decision-making is underlined. Availability of that kind of data in some international organizations and in other contexts is also revised, illustrating its potentialities, the slow but progressive increase of its production and analysis, and its present limitations – which cannot be separated from the pending challenges for researchers, policymakers, and the society in the next future. The article is concluded with a reflection on how important is for children and adolescents the fact of feeling listened to —even by scientific researchers— and verifying that we are not only interested in their problems, but also in the positive aspects that pervade their lives, such as their life satisfaction and their subjective well-being.