Well-being of children and adolescents: a multidimensional construct

Abstract

Objectives: To review the literature on the well-being of children and adolescents from a multidimensional perspective. Methods: A narrative review was conducted and articles from the PubMed database, from publications of national and international institutions, dissertations and theses were selected. Results: The production of articles on the well-being of children and adolescents still cannot be considered significant when compared to other themes in the scientific production involving individuals in this age group. These findings highlight the importance of a targeted approach to this issue. It is clear that the term wellbeing, despite being commonly used, is inconsistently defined. A single domain is unable to encompass all the complexity involved in this concept, as attested by the extensive list of studies and reports monitoring well-being throughout the world. Analysis based on data from the Health Beagá Study reveals the existence of important intra-urban differences in the various domains of well-being of adolescents living in Belo Horizonte, a large urban center in Brazil, reinforcing the importance of studying well-being from a multidimensional perspective, one that can visualize is as a potential indicator of social inequities. Conclusion: We found that well-being is influenced not only by individual attributes but also by contextual factors such as family, neighborhood, and country characteristics.

Bem-Estar na Adolescência: Papel da Cidade e da Comunidade

“…A rede social das cidades contemporâneas representa uma estrutura complexa que incide na saúde e no bem-estar de crianças e adolescentes em termos de seus estilos de vida e da maneira como se posicionam socialmente (Meireles, Xavier, Cortes, Moulin, & Caiaffa, 2013). Assim, o acesso dos adolescentes a atividades no contexto urbano precisa ser considerado em termos de seu potencial de contribuição para identidades pessoais e pode contribuir para a implementação de cidades mais saudáveis e receptivas para seus habitantes, independentemente da classificação temporal de seu processo de desenvolvimento (Patrão, 2009).…”