+

Developing Child Well-Being Indicators for Istanbul-Turkey

ISCI 27-29th July 2011 The University of York

Pınar Uyan-Semerci, Ph.D.Başak Ekim-Akkan, M.A.Serra Müderrisoğlu, Ph.D.Abdullah Karatay, Ph.D.

+ Developing Child Well-Being Indicators for Turkey supported by TÜBİTAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey-Program Code 1001)

RESEARCH TEAM: Pınar Uyan Semerci- Istanbul Bilgi University Political

Science Dept.

Serra Müderrisoğlu- Boğaziçi University Psychology Dept.

Abdullah Karatay- Office of Social Services and Child Protection

Başak Ekim Akkan- Boğaziçi University Social Policy Forum

Zeynep Kılıç- Istanbul Bilgi University Children’s Studies Unit

Burcu Oy- Istanbul Bilgi University Youth Studies Unit

Şaylan Uran - Istanbul Bilgi University Children’s Studies Unit

+Child Well-being-Theoretical approaches

Childhood Literature

Spatiality – Children’s spatiality

Bioecological Model

Capability Approach:

Equality of what?

Existing and Future Capabilities of children

+Studying Child Well Being in Turkey

‘The child indicators movement’ has evolved towards 6 main directions within the last 25 years.

The earlier indicators focused on the continuation of the life of the child while the recent indicators rather focus on the well-being of the child.

The earlier indicators considered the negative outcomes within the life of the child while the recent indicators focus on the positive outcomes.

The earlier indicators considered the future well-being of the child while the recent ones rather focus on the current well-being.

The earlier indicators covered the traditional fields while the current ones have started to take novel fields in to consideration.

The earlier indicators were adult-centered but the new indicators are child-centered. The children are involved within researches now.

Within the last few years, joint indexes to understand the well-being of the child have been developed. These indexes serve as a yardstick for policy makers on developing child focused policies. Ben Arieh, 2010

+Child Well Being Indicators OECD 2009: OECD, Doing

Better for Children, OECD Publications, (2009).

European Commission 2008: EC, Report on Child Poverty and Child Well-Being in the European Union, 2008.

Bradshaw et al. (European Union, 2006): BRADSHAW J., Hoelscher P., Richardson D., ‘An Index of Child Well-Being in the European Union’, Indicators of Children’s Well-Being: Theory and Practice in a Multi-Cultural Perspective, Ben Arieh A. , Frones I. (ed.), Social Indicators Research Series 36: Springer, (2006a), Pp: 325-371.

Bradshaw et al. (OECD, 2006): BRADSHAW J., Hoelscher P., Richardson D., Comparing Child Well Being in OECD Countries concepts and methods, INNOCENTI Working Paper, IWP 2006-03: UNICEF INNOCENTI Research Center, Floransa, İtalya, (2006b)

Richardson et al. (CEE/CIS, 2006): RICHARDSON D, Hoelscher, P. ,Bradshaw J., Child Well-Being in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEE) and Common Wealth of Independent States (CIS), Child Indicators Research, I: 211-250, (2008).

+8 Domains for Children in Turkey

- Material well-being,- Health,- Education,- Participation,- Housing and environment,- Risk and safety,- Relationships,- Subjective well-being.

+Methodology

Development of a set of indicators which can be monitored through fields which are comparable with the international data.

Questionaires developed by analysis of international child well-being indicators

Parents and children

Revealing reflection of social factors, resources and services to child well-being within relationships and various places within lives of children through the eyes of children.

In-depth Questionaires

Semi-structured focus groups

Research through children’s comments on photos of neighbourhood

Quantitative Research Phase Qualitative Research Phase

Domains: Income, health, education, housing and environmental conditions, risk and security, participation, relationships and subjective well-being

+Methodology

Sample Size 169 mahalle in Istanbul 787 mothers, 176 fathers 963 children (498 female, 465

male) Average number of children: 2.74 Average number of household:

4.86

Parent’s Questionnaire(Demography, education, occupation, social security, utilization of local resources and social services, caring of old and ill family members, risk and security within the neighborhood, values linked to children)

Children’s Questionnaire(Participation, subjective well-being, work experiences)

Qualitative Research Universe

In-depth interviews (60 Children) Reflective study on 8-11 year olds perception

of happiness and unhappiness (by means of pictures)

12-15 and 15-18 year olds: Semi-structured interviews, open ended questions on daily life experiences (by means of cartoons of places)

Focus groups (33 Ch, 6 Th, 5 Mothers) 12-15 and 15-18 year olds: Use of time and

place, contentment and complaints about the life spaces, comments on causes and effects, participation, risks and security, coping strategies, opinions and suggestions about things to change and things to keep within lives

Teachers’ comments on child well being and its relation to education.

Families’ perceptions on child well-being and the fields and features they link to it.

Photography (19 Children) Workshop on photography, picture taking in

the neighbourhood, group discussion on photos

Quantitative Research Phase Qualitative Research Phase

11-14 Age Group

15-17 Age Group

FemaleN (%)

MaleN (%)

FemaleN (%)

MaleN (%)

Goes to school/does not work

279 (% 97.2)

248 (% 93.2) 157 (% 71.8) 136 (% 68.7)

Goes to school/ works

0 (% 0) 4 (% 1.5) 5 (% 2.4) 3 (% 1.5)

Does not go to school/ works

2 (% 0.7) 12 (% 4.5) 28 (% 13.3) 49 (% 24.7)

Does not go to school/ does not work

6 (% 2.1) 2 (% 0.8) 20 (% 9.5) 10 (% 7.4)

Quantitative Study-Istanbul

+Well-being Indicators Material Health Education Participation Housing and

Environment

Risk and Safety Relationships Subjective Well-being

1 . Economic  Deprivation

1A.  Material  Deprivation

having  own  bed  having  a  winter  coat having  a  computerhaving  internet

 access  at  home   having  a  bookcase  having  a  closet  for

 own stuff   eating  at  least  3

 time  per  week   meat/fish

(index  score  0‐7)   1B.  Having  pocket

 money2.  Perception  of

 Material  Situation  

2A.  Need/income  ratio  perception  (P)  

 2B.  Perception  of  family economic   hardship  (C)  

Hard  time  paying  rent

Father  gets  unemployed

Difficulty  paying  school  costs  

Difficulty  paying  rent index  score:  0-4    3.  Security   3A.  %  of  parents

 holding  fulltime  job  

3B.  %  of  families  having  social  security  

3C.  %  of  families  having  health  care   coverage

1.  Children's  Health  Condition   1A.  Chronic  Illness   1B.  Health  Status   Categoric:  unhealthy   has  chronic  illness  or   had  serious  illness    2.  Health  Behavior  2. A Adequate nutrition intake  breakfast  everydaydaily  milk/yogurt   3  times  a  week   meat/fish   daily  fruit  daily  vegetable  index  score:  0- ‐5     2B.  Hygiene  Habits     Brush  teeth  1‐2  times  a  day   take  shower  1-2  times  a  week   index  score:  0‐2    3.  Early  Life  Health  Risk  Index  Regular  prenatal  health  visit   birth  out  of  hospital   children  taken  to  health  control   immunization  completed  Mother  breastfed   index  score:  0- ‐5 4.  Child  Mortality  Families  who  lost  child

1.  Educational  Participation  1A.  Enrollment   %  of  children  enrolled  in  school   %  of  children  15+  in  school  %  attending  school  regularly    1B.  Drop-out  %  of  children  dropped  out  Risk  of  dropout  (P)   2.  Quality  of  school    counseling  service health  serviceschool  well‐heatedtoilets  clean cafeteria  cleanschool  has  playground   sports  area  library   computers/internet  access   activities  rooms   no  courses  without  teachers   index  score:  0‐113.  Educational  attainment   3A.  %  repeating  a  grade   3B.  Perception  of  academic  success     4.  Parental  investment  in  education   attend  parent‐teacher  conferences   want  child  to  continue  educchild  not  burdened  by  domestic  work

1.  Participate  in  civic  activities  associations   municipality   political  parties   community  centers   index  score:  0-5

1.  Housing  problemsnot  having  own  bed overcrowded  index  score:  0‐2 2.  Perception  of  neighborhood     safety3.  Neighborhood  resources  educational   sports   health

1.  Child  mortality2. Accidents at home and At Work 2.1  %  of  ch  having  had  accidents  at     home  2.2  %  of  working  children  who  had     accidents  at  work    3.  Child  labor  3.1  %  of  children  currently  working   3.2  amount  of housework burden on  children  cleaning  house cooking   taking  care  of  sibling   piecemeal  work  for  family   washing  dishes   index  score:  0-15    3.3.  Consequences  of  working   3.3i.  Negative  results  distanced  from  friends   irregular  school  attendance   lowered  wish  to  go  to  schoolhanging  out  with  older  peoplemistreatment  by  boss  or  colleagues   future  career  options  lessenedindex  score:  0- ‐6  4.  Harrasment  teased  bullied teacher  treating  child  poorlyindex  score:  0-3

1.  Relationship  with  parents 1A.  Parental  monitoring Time to come homefriends  what  to  wear   work index  score:  0- ‐4 1B.  Contact  with  parents eating together, talking, watching tv together ndex  score:  0-3 1C.  Closeness  with  family   feeling  close  with  mother   feeling  close  with  father  feeling  close  with  sibling  mean  score  1D.how  s/he  feels  when  with  family  2.  Relationship  with  peers  2.1  sharing  secrets  with  friends   2.2  having  friends  at   school/neighborhood  2.3  daily  talk  with  friends  how  she  feels  when  with  friends  3.  Relationships  in  schools   3.1  positive  relational  experiences     in  school  feeling  liked  by  others   positive  rel  with  at  least  1  teacher   have  friends  at  school  index  score:  0- ‐3    3.2  negative  relational  experiences     in  school Teased,  bullied,  bad  rel  with  teachers  index  score:  0‐3  3.3  how  s/he  feels  when  at  school  rating  0‐10

1.  Personal  well‐being   1.A  how  s/he  feels  in  general   rating  0-10    1B.  Anxiety  about  futureanxiety  about  own  futureanxiety  about  family's  futureanxiety  about  family  not  having     enough  money index  score:  0-3 1C.  Able  to   do or get things  that  s/he  wants

+ Material Well-being Indicators and Findings

1 . Economic  Deprivation1A.  Material  Deprivation

having  own  bed, having  a  winter  coat, having  a  computer, having  internet  access at  home,   having  a  bookcase,  having  a  closet  for  own stuff,  eating  at  least  3  time  per  week   meat/fish

(index  score  0‐7)  

1B.  Having  pocket  money

2.  Perception  of  Material  Situation  

2A.  Need/income  ratio  perception  (P)  

 2B.  Perception  of  family economic   hardship  (C)  

Hard  time  paying  rent, father  gets  unemployed, difficulty  paying  school  costs,  difficulty  paying  rent

index  score:  0-4

3.  Security   3A.  %  of  parents  holding  fulltime

 job  

3B.  %  of  families  having  social  security  

3C.  %  of  families  having  health  care   coverage

Need/income ratio perceptions of families: We often don’t have enough

money for our basic needs like food and rent: 163 families

We can barely afford from one pay day to another: 379 families

We can afford if we don’t buy expensive and unnecessary stuff: 364 families

We have enough money to live comfortably: 52 families

Working Poor: 45% of the poorest families had at least one member in full time labor.

Economic deprivation decreases as, child’s age increases

Economic deprivation of the family affects all areas of child well-being

Indicators Findings

Health Status

Health Well-Being Indicators and Findings

Health Status

Cannot afford basic needs

Can afford from payday to the other

Can afford if spent only for musts

We have enogh to live comfortably

Healthy 35 (% 21,9)

54 (% 14.4)

44 (% 12.1)

3 (% 5.8)

Not healthy

125 (%78,1)

320 (% 85.6)

319 (% 87.9)

49(% 94.2)Child mortality rate decreases as • Father’s and mother’s level of education increases• Number of children in the family decreases• Father is full-time employed• Family’s perception of need/income ratio levelsChild Mortality

Cannot afford basic needs

Can afford from payday to the other

Can afford if spent only for musts

We have enogh to live comfortably

At least one child died within family

38 (%23.3

)

35 (%9.2)

24 (%6.6)

2 (%3.8)

Children’s health condition improves as• Father’s level of education increases• Family’s need/income ratio perception levels

1.  Children's  Health  Condition   1A.  Chronic  Illness   1B.  Health  Status   Categorical:  unhealthy   has  chronic  illness  or   had  serious  illness    2.  Health  Behavior  2A. Adequate nutrition intake  breakfast  everyday, daily  milk/yogurt, 3  times  a  week  meat/fish, daily  fruit, daily  vegetable  index  score:  0-5     2B.  Hygiene  Habits     Brush  teeth  1‐2  times  a  day, take  shower  1-2  times  a  week   index  score:  0‐2    3.  Early  Life  Health  Risk  Index  Regular  prenatal  health  visit, birth  out  of  hospital  children  taken  to  health  control,   immunization  completed, mother  breastfed   index  score:  0‐5 4.  Child  Mortality  Families  who  lost  child

Indicators Findings

+ Educational Well-being Indicators and Findings

1.  Educational  Participation  1A.  Enrollment   %  of  children  enrolled  in  school   %

 of  children  15+  in  school  %  attending  school  regularly    1B.  Drop-out  %  of  children  dropped  out, dropout risk

 (P)   2.  Quality  of  school    counseling  service health  serviceschool  well‐heatedtoilets  clean cafeteria  cleanschool  has  playground   sports  area  library   computers/internet

 access   activities  rooms   no  courses  without  teachers  

index  score:  0‐113.  Educational  attainment   3A.  %  repeating  a  grade   3B.  Perception  of  academic

 success     4.  Parental  investment  in

 education   attend  parent‐teacher  conferences   want  child  to  continue  educchild  not  burdened  by  domestic  work

Missing measurement outcomes of education….

We suggest to add: number of children per classquality of counseling educational quality-perception of children

Indicators Findings

+ Educational Well-being

School is very enjoyable actually if you don’t count the lessons. I went to school. But I did not enter the classes. I was hitching in the canteen. (M, 17)

I wish the school was like..friendship like relationship between teachers and students..the school could be a place more bearable. (F, 16)

I love my friends, I can say I am going to school for my friends. (F, 16)

Actually our school is not a school in reality. The teachers would tell about the subject and then go out to see their friends.... Sometimes it happens in school. For instance some other people talk, but he does not call them up to the blackboard but you. He asks the hard question on purpose because he is angry. (M,16)

In high school our knowledge base seems to be poor. Most of them seem as if they haven’t seen the class. Then we have to see it all over again. I have some difficulty in high school. They say ‘you have poor knowledge on the basics.’ We weren’t able to have the classes much.” (M,15)

The classrooms are extremely crowded in the 1st class of high-school. It is 63 people. You sit as 3 in the row and you can not fit in the row.. (M,16)

Quotations from children’s comments

+ Educational Well-being

In the primary school there was physical punishment. In the primary school I’ve been kicked out of school a few times. I was very offended. It was the first time I had ever been kicked out of anywhere. (F,16)

I never wanted to go to the primary school. If you do not know something the teachers would shout at you but it is not like that in the high school. The teachers are afraid of those children who have failed for two years, the children threaten them with beating. (M,16)

They always struggle with us as it is our class. I think of this every time I leave school, what will happen today, what will they do again, what is going to happen. (M,13)

I did not smoke but I used drugs. I still use it from time to time. (M,16)

90% of those who come to school start smoking. They start smoking at school. (E,17)

There are ones who drink alcohol. We put some vodka in our coke from our pocket vodka and we drink it in the backyard. ( E,16)

You can’t do both of them together. Both studying and working at home. Then you are tired. When you start studying that way it is all left over of course. (K,17)

Quotations from children’s comments

+Participation Indicators and Findings

1.  Participate  in  civic  activities

 associations   municipality   political  parties   community  centers   index  score:  0-5

Level of participation increases as The resources of the

neighbourhood increases The children goes to school Father’s and mother’s

education level increases

Child as a citizen? Participation in the decision

processes that affect the child is very critical area to be considered .

Children’s participation as equal citizens .

Participation to decision making

Indicators Findings

Participation in social life Participation at homePolitical participation

+Housing and Environment Indicators and Findings

1. Housing  problemsnot  having  own  bedovercrowded  index  score:  0‐2 2.  Perception  of

 neighborhood   Safety3. Perception of safety

at school4.  Neighborhood

 resources   educational   sports   health

Indicators

+F, 14

+ Risk and Safety Indicators and Findings1.  Child  mortality

2. Accidents at home and At Work 2.1  %  of  children  having  had

 accidents  at  home  2.2  %  of  working  children  who

 had     accidents  at  work    3.  Child  labor  3.1  %  of  children  currently

 working   3.2  amount  of  housework

 burden  on  children:  cleaning  house, cooking, taking  care  of  sibling ,  piecemeal  work  for  family,   washing  dishes

index  score:  0-15    3.3.  Consequences  of  working   3.3i.  Negative  results  distanced  from  friends   irregular  school  attendance   lowered

 wish  to  go  to  schoolhanging  out  with  older  peoplemistreatment  by  boss  or  colleagues

  future  career  options  lessenedindex  score:  0‐6

 4.  Harrasment Teased, bullied teacher  treating  child  poorlyindex  score:  0-3

10,7% works out of house Child labour increases by

age and frequency of male children is higher

Decreases with father’s and mother’s education level

The positive and negative effects of working are highly correlated

Housework burden

Indicators Findings

+ Risk and Safety Indicators

Drug use:‘… and there is something like that. I don’t know how this happens, but it becomes

very popular, I mean 80% of the youth in this district are using drugs and alcohol. Everyone I know have tried for once. I believe the age has fallen down to primary school age’

Working: ‘I don’t want to work under command of another person. Hence always the hard jobs find me. For instance the place I work on Sundays is far away, far to Küçük Çekmece, I have no place to stay. At the last eid for instance, even at the last day of the eid, I put the stuff on the frame in the bazaar, where the bazaar would be held and I slept there. Rain fell on me.’

‘It is really difficult to save money. Needs of the household, my mother’s needs. When no one gives money, I am the one who has to give. I had 25 TL saved money. My mother’s medicine was finished and I bought them. (F, 17)’

Housework burden: ‘For five years I have been caring my sibling’‘Our flat has many guests. Every day they come with children and all. And

everyday I shake the carpet. Clean the house. But my mother sits and rests since she came from work. -Where does your mother work?

-She is a house cleaner. And she collects my sibling when s/he is out of school.’

Quotations from children’s comments

+Difficult to measure but must be included

Drug and alcohol use

Early/teen marriage

Discrimination at home and at school

Violence at home and at school

Suicide

+ Relationships Indicators and Findings

1.  Relationship  with  parents 1A.  Parental  monitoring FAMILY STRUCTURE Time to come home, friends,  what  to  wear,Work index  score:  0- ‐4 %7 DIVORCE1B.  Contact  with  parents eating together, talking, watching tv together Index  score:  0-3 1C.  Closeness  with  family   feeling  close  with  mother,  father,  with  Sibling mean score  1D. How  s/he  feels  when  with  family  

2.  Relationship  with  peers 2.1  sharing  secrets  with  friends   2.2  having  friends  at   school/neighborhood 2.3  daily  talk  with  friends, feelings when  with  friends  

3.  Relationships  in  schools   3.1  positive  relational  experiences in school  feeling  liked  by  others, positive relation with at  least  1  teacher, have  friends at school  index  score:  0-3    3.2  negative  relational  experiences in school Teased,  bullied,  bad  relation with  teachers  index  score:  0‐3  3.3  how s/he feels when at school rating 0‐10

Indicators Findings

+ Subjective Well-being

1.  Personal well‐being   1.A  How s/he feels (happy) in general rating 0-10    

1B.  Anxiety about futureanxiety  about  own  futureanxiety  about  family's  futureanxiety  about  family  not  having     enough  money index  score:  0-3

1C.  Able to things that s/he wants

Indicators

+To conclude:

The importance of developing correct measurement tools to follow well-being (quantitative and qualitative)

The importance of the local

The importance of comparison

International-national and even within the city (province based)

This is the first step along the way!

THANK YOU