Background to the programme

In 2005, The Children's Society included two key questions on well-being in a national survey that we carried out with 14 to 16-year-olds in England. These questions enabled 8,000 young people to tell us in their own words what they think makes for, and what prevents, a good life for young people. Their comments mostly related to a number of key topics that fit under the three headings of 'self', 'relationships' and 'environments'. Find out more about our 2005 survey and The Good Childhood Inquiry.

Using these ideas as an organising framework, we developed, in 2008, our first ever survey of children and young people’s subjective well-being in partnership with the University of York. This survey was carried out with a representative sample of 7,000 10 to 15-year-olds in England. Find out more about our 2008 survey.

Analysis of the 2008 survey led to the development of The Good Childhood Index, a short index of subjective well-being that can be used to measure trends and differences in the well-being of children and young people at the population level. 

The latest development in the research programme is the second wave of our well-being survey, which was administered in primary and secondary schools across England in 2010/11. This survey allowed us to validate new measures for our longer index of children's well-being and to test ideas that we have about the factors that are associated with high or low well-being.

Upcoming events in the research programme

• The launch of Children’s Worlds, an international survey to measure children’s well-being. We will be hosting the survey in England.
• The launch of The Good Childhood report, our annual review of children’s well-being on 12 January 2012.

If you would like to know more about these events or any other aspect of this exciting research programme, please contact research@childrenssociety.org.uk with your questions, or register for regular updates.