Comparing Child Subjective Well-Being in South Korea and the UK: Testing an Ecological Systems Approach

This paper draws on Bronfenbrenner’s (1992) ecological systems theory to explore links between various domains of children’s subjective well-being and their overall subjective well-being, comparing South Korea and the UK. Data are drawn from the Children’s Worlds study (www.isciweb.org), which surveyed children in diverse national contexts. A model of subjective well-being is proposed which our analysis indicates is comparable across the two countries, including children’s ratings of their well-being in the domains of their local community, school, family, their family’s economic situation, and their overall subjective well-being. The model is a stronger predictor of subjective well-being in South Korea than in the UK, suggesting that these variables better capture the factors influencing variation between children in the South Korean context. However, the comparability of the models indicates that there is a core of similarity between the lives of children in these two very different contexts. This supports the value of studies such as the Children’s Worlds survey as enhancing our understanding of the meaning and experience of childhood in diverse contexts.