SELECTING MEASURES OF WELL-BEING
In order to draw a detailed picture of children in North America and to populate our ecological model as broadly as possible, the project team drew on both international and country-specific sources of data. Although our primary goal was to develop a common set of measures across the three countries, we were also committed to reflecting each country’s context and priorities, and to highlighting important disparities at play across countries. We therefore included some measures that are relevant only to one country, and drew on country-specific data to best illustrate this secondary goal. We also include some measures that, although they are relevant in all three counties, were only available in two of the three countries.
To develop our measures, we used only readily available pre-existing data. The project team conducted an extensive review of the range of cross-national studies in which all three countries are represented. In existing international indicator studies, the available measures are strictly comparable across Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Each country also reviewed country-specific data sources to develop a pool of available measures within each country. Readily available measures were not always strictly comparable. Country-specific surveys measure constructs differently, are conducted at different time points, and often involve children of different age groups. In some cases, more similar measures across countries may have been attainable with new data analysis of existing surveys, but resource constraints prevented us from doing so.
Guiding Objectives and Principles: When selecting the measures, we were guided by the following set of principles. First, we believe that childhood is a life stage in itself. Rather than focus exclusively on those indicators that will predict the future status of children as healthy, productive adults, we believe that it is also important to include measures that focus on the current well-being of children. Second, we were guided by a belief that children are a distinct group, and when possible and feasible, we should strive to include measures that have the child as the source of information rather than the parent. Furthermore, where appropriate, the child should be the unit of observation. Third, in our selection of indicators, we looked for a balance between the negative and the positive.
Cross-National Challenges: Creating the knowledge base for the project has entailed a great deal of work in inventorying readily available measures across countries, assessing comparability and quality, securing access to needed data, and working with this large body of cross-national information.
One of the biggest challenges was the difference in indicator development among the three countries. Many of the Mexican indicators have been developed for the first time – this project represented significant capacity building in Mexico to track and monitor child well being. The fact remains, however, that Mexico continues to have less child well-being data than either Canada or the U.S. While Canada has a well-developed model for monitoring child well-being in The Progress of Canada’s Children, a number of indicators relevant to this series required additional data runs. In the U.S., Brett Brown and his staff at Child Trends ran some new analyses on our behalf.
We also found significant conceptual differences across countries. For example, the three countries do not track the same age ranges for childhood, have their own definitions of important concepts such as urbanization, and collect data on different classifications of family structure. This partly reflects the unique traditions inherent to each culture. There were also important language barriers to consider. We came to understand that we must embrace and acknowledge the differences in order to effectively describe the well-being of all children in North America.
Thus, the process of creating the knowledge base has been complex and challenging. It is important to acknowledge these difficulties to ensure the intellectual integrity of the project. The Children in North America Project has attempted throughout to be transparent about the differences in data. As more work is done, capacity built, and more attention is paid to children on a continent-wide basis, we hope that data across the countries will be developed and refined. The project acknowledges that childhood experiences are diverse both within and across the three countries of North America. We must endeavor to reflect the differences in lives lived as well as the common experiences that children share.
