Ferran Casas

Handbook of child well-being: Theories, methods and policies in global perspective, Vols. 1-5

HIV and AIDS remains a significant public health problem. Globally, an estimated 34 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2011 (UNAIDS 2012). Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains the most severely affected region, accounting for 69 % of the people living with HIV worldwide, with nearly 1 in every 20 adults (4.9 %) infected (UNAIDS 2012). HIV incidence also remains unacceptably high: an estimated 2.5 million people (adults and children) acquired HIV infection in 2011 (UNAIDS 2012). Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 71 % of the adults and children newly infected in 2011 (UNAIDS 2012). Further, an estimated 1.7 million people died from AIDS-related causes worldwide in 2011, with SSA accounting for 70 % of all the people dying from AIDS (UNAIDS 2012). Children are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. An estimated 3.4 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2011, 91 % of them in sub-Saharan Africa (WHO/UNAIDS/UNICEF 2011). In 2010, an estimated 250,000 children died from AIDS-related causes. In addition, an estimated 14.9 million children in SSA have lost one or both parents to AIDS. Many more children live with HIV-infected parents or primary caregivers. These children are also vulnerable and greatly affected by HIV and AIDS (UNICEF 2007; Atwani-Akwaraa et al. 2010; Daniel 2011).markdownabstractIntro The World Database of Happiness (Veenhoven 2012) is findings archive, that is, a collection of observations that result from scientific empirical research. The database focuses on research findings on happiness in the sense of subjective enjoyment of life. Its goal is to facilitate accumulation of knowledge on this subject. The database consists of several collections. It builds on a collection of all scientific publications about happiness, called the ‘Bibliography of Happiness’ (Veenhoven 2012a). To date this collection includes some 7000 books and articles, of which half report an empirical investigation that used an acceptable measure of happiness, listed in the collection ‘Measures of Happiness’ (Veenhoven 2012b). The findings yielded by some 3500 studies that past this test for adequate measurement of happiness are described on separate ‘finding pages’, using a standard format and a standard terminology. Two kinds of findings are discerned: distributional findings on how happy people are at a particular time and place and correlational findings about the things that go together with more of less happiness in these populations.

Children's Rights and Children's Quality of Life: Conceptual and Practical Issues

Social representations of childhood are presented briefly, and the Convention of the Rights of the Child of the United Nations is analysed as an opportunity to change some representations that make adults think of children as a different, less important category of people. If the Convention becomes a reality, it is considered that childrens well-being and childrens quality of life should improve. The need of social indicators and of data from childrens own perspective is discussed -- as for example research data on childrens perceptions and evaluations of their own rights --. Implementation and monitoring the Convention is analysed as an important challenge for the academic community. Some important aspects to be considered from the international perspective are presented, selected among the preliminary conclusions of some country case studies of an international project actually trying to develop childrens rights indicators.

Infancia y representaciones sociales

Se presenta un analisis y revision de los elementos constituyentes de las representaciones sociales mayoritariamente compartidas acerca de la infancia en la sociedad occidental, como contribucion a una mayor comprension de los procesos de construccion de la infancia actual. Para entender el desarrollo historico de las politicas sociales de infancia, se plantea la necesidad de profundizar en tres vertientes representacionales inseparables: (a) Las representaciones sociales acerca de la infancia, (b) acerca de sus problemas y necesidades sociales y (c) acerca de las formas apropiadas de afrontar dichos problemas y necesidades. Se defiende la importancia de un cambio psicosocial para evitar que antiguas representaciones sobre la infancia resistentes a modificarse sigan generando una ruptura de la comunicacion entre generaciones.

Life-Satisfaction, Values and Goal Achievement: The Case of Planned Versus by Chance Searches on the Internet

The relation between life domains satisfactionand overall life satisfaction, values,internal/external perceived control and theoption of planning or by chance searchinginformation on the Internet has been exploredin a sample of Spanish adolescents aged 12 to16 (N=968). Age and sex differences have beenexamined. Results clearly confirm a positiverelation between satisfaction with life domainsand overall satisfaction with life.Satisfaction with life as a whole shows also tobe positively correlated with non-materialisticvalues. Perceived control shows to be, onceagain, a key construct to understand bothlife-satisfaction of adolescents and theirbehavioural intentions to plan or not to plantheir action to fulfil intended goals. A clearpattern between external and internal perceivedcontrol stems from our analysis: subjectsreporting to rely on chance when searchinginformation show higher external perceivedcontrol while respondents who prefer to planshow higher internal perceived control. Themore satisfaction expressed with learningrelated items (satisfaction with schoolperformance, learning, and preparation forfuture), with family and with life as a whole,the more tendencies are observed among therespondents to plan their search. No directrelation has been observed between values andbehavioural intentions to plan or not to planaction to fulfil intended goals. Perceivedcontrol, but also satisfaction with some lifedomains and with life as a whole seem to act asmediating factors between behaviouralintentions and values.

Delayed educational pathways and risk of social exclusion: the case of young people from public care in Spain

It is assumed that education may be one of the key aspects in preventing social exclusion and that children in both residential and family foster care would seem to be at risk of exclusion due to unequal opportunities in compulsory and post-compulsory education, particularly when leaving care. On the basis of findings from a European research project, this article examines the educational pathways in Spain among 18–22 year olds who were in care at 16. The qualitative results presented here were taken from initial and follow-up interviews with young people from a public care background, interviews with care managers and nominated adults—mainly social educators. Results showed that delays in educational pathways were frequent among these young people, even those who showed educational promise and were highly motivated. Factors associated with such delays were related to (1) professionals and managers in the child protection system not prioritising their education; (2) low expectations among adults providing them with support; (3) invisibility within the educational system of the specific support needs of this population and (4) additional difficulties this population encounters in the transition to adulthood. If policies are to be developed to address all of the above factors, it is crucial to assess what urgent changes are required to empower the potential human and social capital of this population, increase equality in their educational opportunities and reduce their high risk of social exclusion.

Subjective well‐being: what do adolescents say?

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to analyse how 10‐ to 15‐year‐old adolescents define their own perceptions of well‐being and the factors influencing it at their age. Ten focus groups were organized, two from each age group. One group for each age included the students with the lowest scores in subjective well‐being (SWB) and the other included those with the highest, according to their responses to previously administered psychometric scales. The views of the participating adolescents were explored by means of a content analysis. In general, the children mentioned both positive and negative elements of participating in defining what constitutes well‐being. According to these children, well‐being is related to both affects and attitudes, relations with family and friends being key factors in it. Differences in the information provided reveal some variations according to age and SWB score. Children scoring lower in SWB tend to refer more to relationships with friends and basic needs covered, whereas those scoring higher tend to refer more to family relationships and not having problems. The results of this research can contribute to both social policy design and appraisal as they provide an in‐depth understanding of how SWB works at these ages.

Children, Adolescents and Quality of Life: The Social Sciences Perspective Over Two Decades

In the first ISQOLS international conference (1996) in Prince George (Canada) the topic of children’s and adolescents’ quality of life was absolutely minoritarian – and even more minoritarian was the presence of research using children’s or adolescents’ subjective indicators. Although children’s and adolescents’ QOL has frequently been a concept used in health-related sciences, very few publications appeared before 2000 using subjective data from big samples of children and/or adolescents, and therefore adopting a macro-social perspective.

Perceptions of Stigmatization and Satisfaction with Services Received, Among Users of Social Welfare Services for the Child and the Family in 3 European Regions

A system of psychosocial indicators, based on atheoretical model describing stigma perceptions byusers and practitioners of social welfare services forchildren and their families, was tested in 3 Europeanregions: Catalonia (Spain), Wales and the Netherlands.Data collection from users included questions on theirsatisfaction with the professional providing theservice and on their involvement in decisions abouthim/her and his/her family. In the Catalan sample oneadditional item asked about satisfaction with theoverall support received.Multiple correspondence analysis showed a consistentpattern of answers for our construct stigmaperceptions, using our indicators system.Discriminant analysis showed that our model works withattributions as expected in 86,32% of cases.Surprisingly, in the discriminant analysis all thesatisfaction indicators were excluded by the stepwisemethod, showing no strong relation between stigmaperception related to a service, and satisfactionusing such a service.Such results suggest that service users clearlydiscriminate between the fact that a service isfunctioning in a stigmatizing way, and the fact theyare satisfied or not with the practitioner helpingthem, with services involving them in decisions, orwith the overall support received from welfareservices.

Representaciones sociales que influyen en las políticas sociales de infancia y adolescencia en Europa.

Se revisan y analizan algunas creencias, estereotipos y representaciones sociales prevalentes en la sociedad occidental sobre la infancia, la adolescencia y la juventud, tanto en el presente, como en perspectiva historica. Se ofrecen ejemplos de como han cambiado o estan cambiando algunas de estas creencias o representaciones compartidas, y se senalan algunas de las consecuencias sociales y politicas que derivan de las mismas. Se subrayan tanto el reciente “descubrimiento” de la infancia como capital humano y social, como su potencial para generar nuevos datos, porque configuran una nueva oportunidad de hacer visibles diferentes aspectos de la sociedad que implican a los ciudadanos mas jovenes, y que han sido tradicionalmente invisibles. Un cambio de actitudes es necesario entre los adultos, incluidos los investigadores, para que sean posibles nuevas formas de relaciones intergeneracionales, y con ese proposito se analizan algunos retos cuyo abordaje posibilitaria nuevas dinamicas sociales. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Prevalent believes, stereotypes and social representations of childhood, adolescence and youth in the western society are overviewed and analysed at present, and also in historical perspective. Examples of how some of this shared believes and representations have changed or are changing recently are offered, and some of the subsequent social and political consequences are pointed out. The recent “discovery” of childhood as human and social capital and its potential to generate new data are underlined as a new opportunity to make socially visible different aspects of society involving citizen young people that have traditionally been invisible. A change of attitudes is needed among adults – including scientific researchers - to make possible new forms of intergenerational relationships and some challenges are analysed in order to make possible new social dynamics in that direction.

Los medios audiovisuales entre los progenitores y los hijos e hijas

Resumen En el presente artículo se exponen los resultados de una investigación realizada con una muestra de adolescentes (N = 1211) entre 12 y 16 años y otra de sus progenitores (N = 462) para explorar cómo las diferentes respuestas generacionales ante la presencia de diversos medios audiovisuales en su entorno próximo afectan las interacciones familiares entre progenitores e hijos/as. Los resultados apuntan al hecho que los progenitores tienden a sobredimensionar tanto el interés como las informaciones de que dispone su propio hijo o hija acerca de la mayor parte de los medios audiovisuales explorados, así como la satisfacción que proporcionan las conversaciones con los adultos acerca de cualquier actividad con estos medios. Los progenitores realizan atribuciones diferentes sobre el uso de medios audiovisuales según se refieran a un hijo o a una hija. Se aprecia una importante diferencia entre la satisfacción con las conversaciones que los y las adolescentes mantienen con sus iguales y la que proporcionan las conversaciones con los adultos respecto a cualquiera de sus actividades con los medios.