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(Accepted 2 April 2002)
ABSTRACT. A systematic review the child well-being literature in English was conducted with searches in five databases to assess the current state of child wellbeing research and answer the following questions: (1) How is child well-being defined? (2) What are the domains of child well-being? (3) What are the indicators of child well-being? and (4) How is child well-being measured? This review updates and expands a previous review of the child well-being literature spanning 1974-1992. Results indicate that well-being is a commonly used but inconsistently defined term frequently included in the study of child development. There are five distinct domains of child well-being: physical, psychological, cognitive, social, and economic. Positive indicators are used more often in the physical, cognitive, social, and economic domains, while more negative or deficit indicators are used in the psychological domain. There is little agreement in the research literature on how to best measure child well-being.
INTRODUCTION
The study of well-being is a significant emerging frontier in child development research. There is increasing demand for research that extends beyond the study of children's disorders, deficits, and disabilities. Now is the time to place emphasis on the positive attributes of children. By examining children's strengths, assets, and abilities, the determinants of a positive developmental trajectory can be established. Only by examining children's strengths and abilities will we discover the core elements of well-being that enable children to flourish and thrive.
The child well-being literature base is enormous and continues to expand rapidly. To the extent that this reflects ongoing research and potential advances for the promotion of well-being in children, this expansion is very promising. At the same time, however, it makes the task of locating the best and most useful information on child well-being more challenging. Given the gaps and unanswered questions that exist in the research base on child well-being, a systematic review is needed to assess the current state of child well-being research.
A systematic review of the English language child well-being literature spanning 1974-1992 (Toles et al., 1993) summarized the child well-being research base. This review updates and expands on that review to assess the current state of the English language child well-being research.
METHODOLOGY
This review focuses on the 1991 to 1999...