The Relationship of Child Agency and Subjective Well-Being
Abstract
The multidimensionality and complexity of the child agency` phenomenon determines the presence of different approaches and grounds for its study, which are in diametrically opposite positions. The aim of the study is to analyze agency and its indicators in the structure of subjective well-being of senior schoolchildren. The empirical base was made up of data obtained from a survey of 3,282 students in grades 7-11 of the Tyumen region. The questionnaire of the international survey of children's subjective well-being - Children's World is taken as a basis. The questionnaire was supplemented with indicators showing the level of agency, as well as the impact on the subjective well-being of security, health and romantic relationships. Factor analysis in the space of 47 SWB indicators allowed us to identify 8 factors reflecting the contribution to the SWB of family, school, health, agency, status, social loyalty, security and romantic relationships. In addition, students were asked to evaluate the SWB indicators from two angles: how important this or that SWB indicator is for them (the desired level) and how much they assess the presence of this indicator in relation to their lives (the real level). At the actual and real levels, the greatest contribution to subjective well-being is made by such factors as: family satisfaction, agency, security and safety (psychological, physical). There are direct significant moderate correlations between the relevance of factors and their real level. Agency is a significant factor in the subjective well-being of schoolchildren and ranks second in importance after safety. The relevance of agency increases with age. The gap between the desired and real levels of agency is most pronounced in older students with disabilities. A comparison of the SWB structure in groups with different levels of agency showed that high school students with an average level of agency demonstrate a higher level of SWB, and students with a high level of agency have the lowest level of SWB. The results obtained are discussed in the critical field of research.
Downloads
References
Abebe T. (2019) Reconceptualising Children’s Agency as Continuum and Interdependence. Social Sciences, vol. 8, no 3, Article no 81. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci8030081
Archard D. (2014) Children: Rights and Childhood. London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315740676
Asbjørnslett M. (2015) "Ordinary Kids": Everyday Life Experiences of Children with Disabillities (PhD Thesis), Oslo: The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/283067 (accessed 26 February 2024).
Ballet J., Biggeri M., Comim F. (2011) Children’s Agency and the Capability Approach: A Conceptual Framework. Children and the Capability Approach (eds J. Ballet, M. Biggeri, F. Comim), London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 22–45. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230308374_2
Bardina S. (2019) «Deti, idioty i sumasshedshie»: Tomas Gobbs i problemy sovremennoy sotsiologii detstva ['Children, Fools, and Madmen’: Thomas Hobbes and the Problems of the Sociology of Childhood]. Sociology of Power, no 1, pp. 14–29.
Bauman Z. (2005) Education in Liquid Modernity. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, vol. 27, no 4, pp. 303–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714410500338873
Bjorbækmo W., Greve A., Asbjørnslett M. (2022) "This Is Not Me" — A Critical Discussion about Methodological Issues Concerning Agency and Participatory Sense-Making in Qualitative Research with Children. International Journal of Qualitative Methods (IJQM), vol. 21, Article no 16094069221118990. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221118990
Boyle R.C. (2022) We Are Not ‘Mixed’, We Are ‘All’: Understanding the Educational Experiences of Mixed Ethnicity Children to Enhance Learner Agency. Education 3-13, vol. 50, no 4, pp. 471–482. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2022.2052237
Bruk Zh.Yu., Fedina L.V., Volosnikova L.M., Patrusheva I.V., Kukuev E.A. (2022) Svyaz' urovnya i struktury sub"ektivnogo blagopoluchiya u starshikh shkol'nikov [The Relationship Between the Level and Structure of Subjective Well-Being in High School Students]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie / Psychological Science and Education, vol. 27, no 6, pp. 130–143. https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2022270610
Bruk Zh.Yu., Ignatjeva S.V. (2021) Sub"ektivnoe blagopoluchie detey 10 i 12 let v prostranstve udovletvorennosti sem'ey, shkoloy i druz'yami [Subjective Well-Being of 10- and 12-year-old Children in the Space of Satisfaction with Family, School and Friends]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie / Psychological Science and Education, vol. 26, no 6, pp. 164–175. https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2021260613
Bruk Zh.Yu., Ignatjeva S.V., Frolenkova A.L. (2021) Detskiy mir. Sub"ektivnoe blagopoluchie detey Tyumenskoy oblasti [Children's World. Subjective Well-Being of Children in the Tyumen Region]. Moscow: Znanie-M.
Cavazzoni F., Fiorini A., Veronese G. (2022) How Do We Assess How Agentic We Are? A Literature Review of Existing Instruments to Evaluate and Measure Individuals' Agency. Social Indicators Research, no 159, pp. 1125–1153. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02791-8
Chirkov V., Ryan R.M., Kim Y., Kaplan U. (2003) Differentiating Autonomy from Individualism and Independence: A Self-Determination Theory Perspective on Internalization of Cultural Orientations and Well-Being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 84, no 1, pp. 97–110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.97
Corsaro W.A. (2003) We're Friends, Right? Inside Kids' Culture. Washington, DC: Joseph Henry. https://doi.org/10.17226/10723
Diener E. (2012) New Findings and Future Directions for Subjective Well-Being Research. American Psychologist, vol. 67, no 8, pp. 590–597. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029541
Dworkin G. (1988) The Theory and Practice of Autonomy. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University.
Eliseeva O.A. (2011) Sub"ektivnoe blagopoluchie podrostkov i psikhologicheskaya bezopasnost' obrazovatel'noy sredy [Subjective Well-Being of Adolescents and Psychological Security of Educational Environment]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie / Psychological Science and Education, no 3, pp. 131–140.
Fromm E (1994) Anatomiya chelovecheskoy destruktivnosti [The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness]. Moscow: Respublika.
Graf G. (2015) Conceptions of Childhood, Agency, and the Well-Being of Children. The Well-Being of Children: Philosophical and Social Scientific Approaches (eds G. Schweiger, G. Graf), Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110450521
Haring U., Sorin R., Caltabiano N.J. (2019) Reflecting on Childhood and Child Agency in History. Palgrave Commun, no 5, Article no 52. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0259-0
Ignatjeva S., Bruk Zh., Fedina L.V., Patrusheva I.V. (2021) Klassy psikhologo-pedagogicheskoy napravlennosti kak resurs subʼektivnogo blagopoluchiya starsheklassnikov [Classes of Psychological-Pedagogical Direction as a Resource of Senior Students' Subjective Well-Being]. Bulletin of the Surgut State Pedagogical University, no 4, рр. 36–44. https://doi.org/10.26105/SSPU.2021.73.4.004
Klocke A., Clair A., Bradshaw J. (2014) International Variation in Child Subjective Well-Being. Child Indicators Research, no 7, pp. 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-013-9213-7
Kozlovskaya A., Kozlova A. (2020) Detskaya agentnost kak predmet teoreticheskoy diskussii i prakticheskaya problema (antropologicheskiy kommentariy) [Children’s Agency as a Theoretical Problem and a Practical Concern (an Anthropological Remark)]. Antropologicheskij forum, no 45, pp. 11–25. https://doi.org/10.31250/1815-8870-2020-16-45-11-25
Kutsar D., Soo K., Mandel L.M. (2019) Schools for Well-Being? Critical Discussions with Schoolchildren. International Journal of Emotional Education, vol. 11, no 1, pp. 49–66.
Lancy D.F. (2012) Unmasking Children's Agency. Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications, Paper no 277. Available at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/sswa_facpubs/277 (accessed 26 February 2024).
Macleod C. (2015) Agency, Authority and the Vulnerability of Children. The Nature of Children's Well-Being: Theory and Practice (eds A. Bagattini, C. Macleod), Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9252-3_4
Maslow A. (2019) Motivatsiya i lichnost' [Motivation and Personality]. Saint Petersburg: Piter.
OECD (2018) Budushchee obrazovaniya i navykov. Obrazovanie 2030 [The Future of Education and Skills. Education 2030]. Available at: https://fioco.ru/Media/Default/Documents/E2030%20Position%20Paper%2027.05.2019.pdf (accessed 26 February 2024).
Polivanova K.N., Ostroverkh O.S., Strukova A.S. (2022) Predstavleniya pedagogov o detskoy samostoyatel'nosti v doshkol'nom vozraste [Teachers’ Ideas about Children’s Independence in Preschool Age]. Preschool Education Today, no 3 (111), pp. 16–24. https://doi.org/10.24412/2782-4519-2022-3111-16-24
Prout A. (2011) Taking a Step Away from Modernity: Reconsidering the New Sociology of Childhood. Global Studies of Childhood, vol. 1, no 1, pp. 4–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/gsch.2011.1.1.4
Rees G., Savahl S., Lee B.J., Casas F. (eds) (2020) Children’s Views on Their Lives and Well-Being in 35 Countries: A Report on the Children’s Worlds Project, 2016–19. Jerusalem, Israel: Children’s Worlds Project (ISCWeB).
Ryan R.M., Deci E.L. (2001) On Happiness and Human Potentials: A Review of Research on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being. Annual Review of Psychology, no 52, pp. 141–166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.141
Savahl S., Casas F., Adams S. (2021) The Structure of Children's Subjective Well-Being. Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 12, June, Article no 650691. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.650691
Sen A. (1999) Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University.
Snyder C.R., Hoza B., Pelham W.E., Rapoff M., Ware L., Danovsky M., Stahl K.J. (1997) The Development and Validation of the Children’s Hope Scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, vol. 22, no 3, pp. 399–421. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/22.3.399
Sorin R., Galloway G. (2006) Constructs of Childhood: Constructs of Self. Children Australia, vol. 31, no 2, pp. 12–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1035077200011081
Sorokin P.S. (2023) Problema "agentnosti" cherez prizmu novoy realʼnosti: sostoyanie i napravleniya razvitiya [The Problem of “Agency” Through the Prism of a New Reality: Conditions and Perspectives]. Sotsiologicheskie Issledovaniia / Sociological Studies, no 3, pp. 103–114. https://doi.org/10.31857/S013216250022927-2
Sorokin P.S. (ed.) (2022) Samostoyatel'nost' i proaktivnoe povedenie [Independence and Proactive Behavior]. Moscow: HSE. Available at: https://stratpro.hse.ru/mirror/pubs/share/816060616.pdf?ysclid=lt3bwkhcsj113654776 (accessed 26 February 2024).
Sorokin P.S., Froumin I.D. (2022) Obrazovanie kak istochnik dejstviya, sovershenstvuyushchego struktury: teoreticheskie podkhody i prakticheskie zadachi [Education as a Source for Transformative Agency: Theoretical and Practical Issues]. Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no 1, pp. 116–137. https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2022-1-116-137
Spyrou S. (2018) Disclosing Childhoods Research and Knowledge Production for a Critical Childhood Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47904-4
Steckermeier L.C. (2019) Better Safe than Sorry. Does Agency Moderate the Relevance of Safety Perceptions for the Subjective Well-Being of Young Children? Child Indicators Research, vol. 12, February, pp. 29–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-017-9519-y
UNICEF Innocenti (2020) Worlds of Influence: Understanding what Shapes Child Well-Being in Rich Countries. Innocenti Report Card no 16, Florence: UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti. Available at: http://www.unicef-irc.org/child-well-being-report-card-16 (accessed 26 February 2024).
Veronese G., Pepe A., Cavazzoni F., Obaid H., Perez J. (2019) Agency via Life Satisfaction as a Protective Factor from Cumulative Trauma and Emotional Distress among Bedouin Children in Palestine. Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 10, July, Article no 1674. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01674
Vodyaha S.A. (2013) Osobennosti psikhologicheskogo blagopoluchiya starsheklassnikov [Features of Psychological Well-Being of Upper-Form Pupils]. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie / Psychological Science and Education, no 6, pp. 114–120.
Volosnikova L., Ignatjeva S., Fedina L., Bruk Zh. (2022) Uchitel' v inklyuzivnom klasse: vzaimosvyaz' otnosheniya k inklyuzii s udovletvorennost'yu rabotoy [Teacher in an Inclusive Classroom: Relationship between Attitudes towards Inclusive Education and Job Satisfaction]. Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, no 2, pp. 60–87. https://doi.org/10.17323/1814-9545-2022-2-60-87
Watson D., Clark L. A., Tellegen A. (1988) Development and Validation of Brief Measures of Positive and Negative Affect: The PANAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 54, no 6, pp. 1063–1070. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063
Zhang D., Jin B., Cui Y. (2021) Do Teacher Autonomy Support and Teacher-Student Relationships Influence Students’ Depression? A 3-Year Longitudinal Study. School Mental Health, vol. 14, no 9, pp, 110–124. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12310-021-09456-4
.jpg){kind=small}
