Child Poverty and Children’s Subjective Well-Being

This article examines the relationship between child poverty and children’s subjective well-being on the range of domains identified by Rees et al. ( 2010 ) in the Good Childhood Index. Data are taken from a school-based survey of children in England. Child poverty is measured using a child-derived index of material deprivation (proposed by Main and Bradshaw in Child Indicators Research 5(3): 503–521, 2012 ) and indicators of children living in households likely to qualify for minimum income benefits. After a review of relevant literature to provide background to the study, the relationship between material deprivation, qualification for minimum income benefits and various domains of children’s subjective well-being are examined. Finally, a more detailed analysis is performed on the relationship between poverty and children’s subjective well-being in the domains of family and choice, as relationships were found to be strongest in these domains. Findings show that poverty is an important predictor of subjective well-being and that the child-derived index is more successful than household qualification for minimum income benefits in explaining variation in Rees et al’s ( 2010 ) Good Childhood Index domains. This lends support to Cummins’s (Journal of Happiness Studies 1(2):133–158, 2000 ) argument that the relationship between income and subjective well-being exists but is confounded by mediating factors. The domains in which the association to material deprivation is especially strong – family and choice - are identified by Rees et al. ( 2010 ) as amongst the most strongly associated with overall subjective well-being.