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This paper explores the concept of children-as-researchers through an exposition of the pioneering work of the Children’s Research Centre (CRC) at the Open University, UK, http://childrens-research-centre.open.ac.uk . It situates this work of the Centre within an empowerment and rights framework and charts its journey, from the first pilot work to its recognition as a centre with significant international reach. The paper focuses on issues, challenges and outcomes and draws on examples of children’s research. The impact of child-led research, in terms of contribution to the body of knowledge on childhoods and our understanding of children’s lived experiences, are examined along with a discussion of how child-led research can be influential in policy and practice contexts.

Non-sexual forms of child abuse and maltreatment are difficult to define because they range on a continuous scale between forms of impairment, neglect, endangering, acute danger, etc. Methods to treat this quasi-continuous problem are required to allow for reliable and reproducible decision making in the fields between child welfare and child protection. An empirical list of 151 items on hostile-aggressive parenting has been assessed by 13 experts from various disciplines by means of a Delphi procedure. Assessments show large rater variability and rater bias which can be attributed, among other factors, to differing experiences and different background among raters. We present a method by which assessments can be projected on a continuous scale of a ‘relative loss of child well-being’. As a solution for decision makers we provide threshold values and reference ranges for this loss of child well-being. The quantifications suggested by the present approach can support decision making at family courts and child protection agencies and the results can be used by professionals as well as by parents to comparatively evaluate own assessments of family or custody issues.

The aims of this study were to assess the mediating role of household socioeconomic position (SEP) in the associations between the country-level factors: family social benefits, and public income support to single parent households (SPH), with the individual-level factor adolescent life satisfaction. Our sample consisted of adolescent (11, 13, and 15 years old) participants in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (2013/2014) across Canada and 24 countries in Europe. We used World Bank data on country wealth from OECD data on social benefits for families and public income support to SPH. Multilevel linear regressions assessed mediated (indirect) associations of these country-level predictors, through SEP, with life satisfaction. Family social benefits ranged between 1.1% and 3.7% of country wealth. The direct association showed that family social benefits were associated with lower adolescent life satisfaction (β = -0.244, 95% Confidence Intervals [C.I.] = -0.306, -0.182, p < 0.0001) among all adolescents and for adolescents in SPH (β = -0.118, 95% C.I. = -0.161, -0.074, p < 0.0001). However, the mediated (indirect) association showed that family social benefits were associated with higher life satisfaction which is partially mediated by SEP (β = 0.087, 95% C.I. = 0.065, 0.109, p < 0.0001) among all adolescents and for adolescents in SPH as well (β = 0.041, 95% C.I. = 0.030, 0.052, p < 0.0001). Country policies may support the wellbeing of adolescents by reducing poverty and improving their socioeconomic position in society.

We study whether a family’s economic situation and parental educational level are associated with classroom belonging among students in comprehensive secondary, upper secondary general and upper secondary vocational education in Finland. We also study whether there are educational-level differences in this possible association. We use survey data from the Finnish School Health Promotion study from 2017 (N = 114,528). We conduct random effect linear probability models with schools as the second-level grouping variable. The results show that family’s low economic situation predicts a higher probability of lack of sense of classroom belonging in Finland, despite the country having one of the world’s most equal educational systems and comparably low economic inequality. Neither mother’s nor father’s educational level has any association. A family’s low economic situation seems to predict the lack of a sense of belonging most strongly in comprehensive secondary education and most weakly in upper secondary vocational education. Our results slightly support the proposed significance of context-specific hierarchies in determining the association between economic resources and sense of belonging. A family having a poor economic situation is not reflected in the sense of classroom belonging as strongly in schools where students have a low average economic situation compared to those where students have a high average economic situation. We suggest measures, in addition to alleviating economic inequalities, to support the sense of school belonging, especially for low-income students.

The desire to build and maintain positive relations is a fundamental and universal need of humans. Therefore, individuals’ perception of social exclusion has been investigated as a potentially important factor for mental health and wellbeing. In order to enhance adolescents’ wellbeing and promote mental health at school, the purpose of the present study was to investigate whether academic self-regulation mediated and moderated the effect of social exclusion on youths’ mental health (internalizing and externalizing problems) and affective wellbeing at school. Participants comprised 313 adolescents (55.3% girls), ranging in age between 11 and 19 years (M = 15.678, SD = 1.739). Findings from structural equation analyses indicated a partial mediating effect of academic self-regulation on adolescents’ mental health problems and affective wellbeing, and that it promoted their mental health and wellbeing in the face of social exclusion. In addition, moderation analyses supported these results, demonstrating a significant moderating role of academic self-regulation on youths’ wellbeing and mental health. Taken together, these results support the importance of academic self-regulation on youths’ mental health and wellbeing in the face of social exclusion, and contribute to the design of school-based services in order to protect their mental health and wellbeing. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Understandings of child well-being are culturally embedded and highly contextualised. Its multifaceted nature, including dimensions of health, education, child social capital and psychosocial well-being, creates significant conceptual and methodological challenges for selection of standard indicators. This is particularly true for programmes that cover small areas where context is paramount in determining locally significant outcomes. Child focused International Non Governmental Organizations, such as World Vision, work in country contexts as different as Albania and Angola, with types of programmes ranging from advocacy to emergency, yet are seeking to report regionally and globally for advocacy and accountability purposes. How is it possible to measure context specific child well-being in such diverse situations? This article will present a compendium of indicators organized under a common set of child well-being outcomes. The compendium drew on globally recognized instruments such as MICS, literacy tests, and child self perception surveys to provide a wide selection of indicators. A three-step process for selecting indicators empowers programmers to choose indicators appropriate to their context. The compendium was piloted in Zambia with community-based programmers. The pilot had mixed results with programmers having some difficulty defining links between project activities and higher level outcomes. Refining the list of indicators to a manageable number was also a challenge. Questions were raised on the sequencing and use of focus group discussion. In conclusion, a compendium of indicators initially appears to be a workable solution for large organisations to measure well-being, but there is a requirement for specific capacity building for staff.

This study expands upon previous research by utilizing nationally representative data and multivariate analyses to examine the relationship between an adolescent’s disability status and their likelihood of engaging in a spectrum of delinquent behaviors through age 16. Logistic regression models of 7,232 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 are used to investigate the association between the presence of a learning disability or emotional condition, chronic health condition, sensory condition, physical disability, or multiple conditions and ten delinquent acts, including violence-related delinquency, property crimes, drug offenses, and arrest. Additional analyses explore differences in delinquency prevalence by more specific types of limiting conditions. Results indicate that adolescents with learning disabilities or emotional conditions are particularly at risk of committing delinquent acts. Findings suggest that disability status is important to consider when examining adolescent delinquency; however, not all youth with disabilities have equal experiences.

Adolescents develop civic attitudes that are shaped by both proximal and distal social contexts; in turn, these contexts change over time due to cultural and historical shifts. This study uses data from the 1999 IEA Civic Education Study and the 2009 IEA International Civics and Citizenship Education Study to assess changes in governmental trust, conceptualizations of citizenship, and inclusive attitudes toward racial/ethnic and gender equality in sixteen countries participating in both surveys. Well-fitting scales were created for each of five attitudes examined, indicating that the structure of attitudes was similar in both cohorts. While attitudes toward racial/ethnic and gender equality became more inclusive in nearly every country, patterns of change in citizenship norms and trust were more varied across countries. Gender gaps also became less pronounced over time for every outcome except for social movement citizenship, indicating a continuing presence of gender-based norms for civic engagement.