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Today, any regular newspaper reader is likely to be exposed to reports on manifold forms of (physical, emotional, sexual) child abuse on the one hand, and abnormal behavior, misconduct or offences of children and minors on the other hand. Occasionally reports on children as victims and children as offenders may appear on the same issue or even the same page. Rather seldom the more complex and largely hidden phenomena of structural hostility or indifference of society with a view to children are being dealt with in the press. Such fragmentary, ambiguous, incoherent or even contradictory perception of children in modem society indicates that, firstly, there is a lack of reliable information on modem childhood, and secondly, children are still treated as a comparatively irrelevant population group in society. This conclusion may be surprising in particular when drawn at the end of The Century of the Child proclaimed by Ellen Key as early as 1902. Actually, there exist unclarities and ambiguities about the evolution of childhood in the last century not only in public opinion, but also in scientific literature. While De Mause with his psycho-historic model of the evolution of childhood, comprising different stages from infanticide, abandonment, ambivalence, intrusion, socialisation to support, underlines the continuous improvement of the condition of childhood throughout history and thus rather confirms Key's expectations, Aries, with his social history of childhood, seems to hold a more culturally pessimistic view.
List of contents
1: The Rationale for Measuring and Monitoring Children's Well-Being.- 2: Existing Efforts Around the World.- 3: Underlying Assumptions and Basic Guidelines for Measuirng and Monitoring Children's Well-Being.- 4: Five "New" Domains of Children's Well-Being.- 5: Possible Indicators of Children's Well-Being.- 6: How to Measure and Monitor Children's Well-Being.- 7: Measuring and Monitoring Children's Well-Being at the Community Level.- 8: Measuring and Monitoring Children's Well-Being and the Making of Policy.- 9: Summary and Agenda for the Future.- Appendix 1: State of the Child Reports.- Appendix 2: Members of the International Project.- Reference.
About the author
Asher Ben-Arieh, Ph.D., is a senior-lecturer at the Paul Baerwald School of Social Work at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and since 2007 he is the Head of the Joseph J. Schwartz M.A. Programs in early childhood and non-profit management.§As of 1990 Dr. Ben-Arieh served as the project director and editor of the annual "State of the Child in Israel - a Statistical Abstract.". Dr. Ben-Arieh initiated and coordinated the Multi-national Project, "Measuring and Monitoring Children's Well-Being." He was among the founding members of the International Society for Children Indicators (ISCI) and was recently elected to be its first co-chair.§Dr. Ben-Arieh is one of the leading international experts on social indicators, particularly as they relate to child well-being, he has published extensively on the politics of social policy and child well being in Israel, and on child well being indicators and its measurement. He serves on the management committee of the EU child welfare research network and the UN Secretary General advisory network on social indicators. §Dr. Ben-Arieh is the founding editor in chief of the Child Indicators Research (CIR) journal and the Children well being: Research and Indicators book series.
Summary
Today, any regular newspaper reader is likely to be exposed to reports on manifold forms of (physical, emotional, sexual) child abuse on the one hand, and abnormal behavior, misconduct or offences of children and minors on the other hand. Occasionally reports on children as victims and children as offenders may appear on the same issue or even the same page. Rather seldom the more complex and largely hidden phenomena of structural hostility or indifference of society with a view to children are being dealt with in the press. Such fragmentary, ambiguous, incoherent or even contradictory perception of children in modem society indicates that, firstly, there is a lack of reliable information on modem childhood, and secondly, children are still treated as a comparatively irrelevant population group in society. This conclusion may be surprising in particular when drawn at the end of The Century of the Child proclaimed by Ellen Key as early as 1902. Actually, there exist unclarities and ambiguities about the evolution of childhood in the last century not only in public opinion, but also in scientific literature. While De Mause with his psycho-historic model of the evolution of childhood, comprising different stages from infanticide, abandonment, ambivalence, intrusion, socialisation to support, underlines the continuous improvement of the condition of childhood throughout history and thus rather confirms Key's expectations, Aries, with his social history of childhood, seems to hold a more culturally pessimistic view.
Additional text
'This is an easy to read book with good information for professionals searching to find ways to measure and monitor well-being in today's children and adolescents.'
International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 14 (2002)
Report
'This is an easy to read book with good information for professionals searching to find ways to measure and monitor well-being in today's children and adolescents.'
International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 14 (2002)
