Being a victim of bullying reduces child subjective well-being substantively: an international comparison

Abstract

"Child subjective well-being has gained growing international acknowledgement in the last decade, but there are still open questions. How do we measure child subjective wellbeing, and are the same indicators relevant for children and adults? Is child subjective well-being directly associated with material wealth? Does the subjective well-being of children vary between countries? How does it vary? What explains that variation? In the past the subjective well-being of children has been compared at country level using published data derived from comparable international surveys, most commonly the Health Behaviour of School-aged Children survey. The league tables of child well-being produced in this way are fairly consistent. In seeking to explain these national rankings we tend to explore associations with other national league tables. Thus in the UNICEF (2013) Report Card 11, country rankings on subjective well-being were compared with country rankings on more objective domains of well-being – material, health, education, housing and so on, all at a macro level. In this paper we explore international variations in subjective well-being.1 To explore child subjective well-being and its determinants we use the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Study – World Health Organization Cross-National Survey (HBSC-study) which has been collecting data on adolescents every four years since 1983/84 in a growing number of countries in Europe and North America (Currie et al. 2012; www.hbsc.org). The aim of the HBSC-study is to increase the understanding of health, health-related behaviour and the social contexts of young people aged 11, 13 and 15 years. The study applies cluster-sampling at schools (classroom) and an identical questionnaire is used in all countries." (author's abstract)