Predictors of Child Well-Being or What Makes Children Happy

*Zhanna Bruk and Svetlana Ignatjeva*

## **Abstract**

In order to understand what makes children happy, it is important to hear what children have to say about their lives themselves. Their voices do not always resonate with the widespread discourse of adults about what children need, and the very awareness of children's well-being diverges between adults and children. This chapter presents an analysis of overall life satisfaction and subjective well-being of 2,000 children living in the Tyumen region, Russia. The survey was conducted as part of the international collaboration Children's Worlds (ISCWeB). The authors study the influence of various predictors (family, friends, school, safety, area of residence, etc.) on the subjective well-being of children. The results prove that the objective availability of everything necessary for a full-fledged life of a child does not always determine subjective well-being and a sense of happiness. Children may have not everything they want and still be happy. Conversely, a child may claim to have everything a child could dream of and still feel unhappy. These results are discussed in the context of policy and programming to promote and sustain well-being among all children.

**Keywords:** well-being of children, subjective well-being, emotional component, cognitive component, factor analysis, cluster analysis

### **1. Introduction**

### **1.1 A case "About the girl Eva"**

My colleague, who runs a private educational center, shared this story with me. She and her daughter teach English to children and help correct speech disorders. They have a 12-year-old English language student, let us call her Eva. Eva has a nuclear family with prosperous young parents. Her father works, and her mother is engaged in raising children. The family is financially very well off and lives in a large two-level apartment. Eva has five more brothers. All children attend additional classes outside of school, some of which require additional fees. Parents can afford it. Eva goes to school in the afternoon and spends her morning taking additional classes, including English.

Is the girl happy? We can assume, with a very high probability, that yes, she is happy. Eva has everything and even more than is necessary for a prosperous life: a large family, a house and comfortable living conditions, siblings, parents and their care, a good school near her house, friends, material security with everything necessary, the possibility of comprehensive development and visiting numerous

institutions of additional education for children ... In general, parents try to give their children the maximum and do everything in their power to make the children happy.
