Children’s life satisfaction ‘not linked’ to income poverty

Children’s perceptions of life satisfaction are not directly linked to conventional income-based measures of poverty, says a research paper from Essex University.

The study looked at whether household income, household material deprivation and child material deprivation are associated with child life satisfaction. It was based on a sample of children aged 10–15 participating in Understanding Society, the new UK Household Longitudinal Study.

Key points

  • Although not directly linked to household income, life satisfaction in children does fall as material deprivation among the adult members of their household rises.
  • Children’s life satisfaction is more even strongly influenced by whether they themselves are deprived of things other children enjoy. This suggests that new multidimensional measures of child poverty are better suited to track real improvements in children’s lives than conventional income-based poverty measures.
  • Children tend to be less materially deprived than adults – possibly because parents shield their children from financial hardship by spending on their children rather than themselves.
  • The two most common items children feel they lack are holidays (31 per cent) and friends around for tea (23 per cent).
  • Children who live with both parents are over-represented among the happier children, and under-represented when living in a step- or lone-parent family, or with neither of the parents.

Source: Gundi Knies, Life Satisfaction and Material Well-being of Children in the UK, Working Paper 2012-15, Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)
LinksWorking paper | Abstract

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