Life Satisfaction and Material Well-Being of Children in the UK

Gundi Knies, University of Essex

Policymakers across the world increasingly recognize the importance of life satisfaction as a desirable individual outcome at all stages of the life cycle. Policy attention with respect to children’s well-being has largely focused on improving the financial position of families with children. Using data from Understanding Society, the new UK household longitudinal study, I investigate whether family income and material deprivation measures of child poverty, introduced to help target effective policies that make a real difference to children’s lives, do affect the self-perceived life satisfaction of children living in the UK.