Why Do Children Become Unhappier as They Get Older?...

Full title: Why Do Children Become Unhappier as They Get Older? Comparing Key Dimensions of Children’s Subjective Well-Being Between 8- and 12-Year-Old Groups in South Korea

Sunsuk Kim | Major of Social Welfare, School of Business, Trade & Social Welfare, Korea National University of Transportation

Jaejin Ahn | Department of Social Welfare, Gachon University

Bong Joo Lee | Department of Social Welfare, Seoul National University

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to explore differences in the roles played by family, school, and community in the subjective well-being (SWB) of children in different age groups in South Korea. Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework, the contexts that affect children’s subjective well-being are conceptualized as family, school, and community. We use multiple regression analysis with the Chow test. The Chow test examines whether the parameters of one group (such as 8-year-old children) are equal to those of other groups (such as 10- or 12-year-old children). The results show that Bsatisfaction with freedom^ in child factors and Brelations with friends^ in school factors significantly influence SWB, having a stronger effect on 8- rather than 12-year-old children. In contrast, Bsatisfaction with school marks^ in school factors significantly influences SWB, having a stronger effect on 12- rather than 8-year-old children. In a nutshell, this analysis shows that the effects of these factors on the SWB of 8-year-olds are different from those on the SWB of 12-year-olds.

Keywords

Children’ subjective well-being . Ecological framework . Chow test . ISCWeB

Child Ind Res (2019) 12:9–27

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-017-9513-4