Analyzing factors for an optimum play environment through children’s subjective well-being indicators

Mari Corominas, Mònica González-Carrasco and Ferran Casas

Children and Youth Services Review, 2021, vol. 122, issue C

Abstract: Although children’s play environments are known to be linked to their subjective well-being (SWB), this is not a topic that has been thoroughly studied. The present article has three aims: to identify factors that can ensure an optimum play environment in relation to children’s SWB; to analyze the most relevant groups of children that share similar play environments; and to focus on social inequality according to gender, background, and conditions of poverty and disability. The cluster analysis was performed using the indicators included in the Children’s Worlds international research project, and the participants comprised 3,962 children living in Barcelona (Spain) in 2017 (mean age = 10.7). With regard to the results, overall most children reported four deficits: a lack of age-appropriate rest, not being free from peer discrimination, not feeling safe within the local neighborhood, and not having enough freedom of choice. On the positive side, children displayed low stress and boredom, high satisfaction with their free time, and reported being able to spend time or play outside almost every day, all of which contributing to a high SWB. Girls, children living in poverty or from foreign geographical or cultural backgrounds experienced this in a lesser extent. The conclusions contribute new knowledge to psychosocial interventions to improve children’s play environments and well-being.

Keywords: Play environment; Children’s subjective well-being; Children’s rights; Social inequality; Children’s Worlds (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740920321113
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:122:y:2021:i:c:s0190740920321113

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105688

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().