Introduction — Theoretical Foundations and the Book’s Roadmap

Childhood and adolescence are periods in life that are distinct for a variety of reasons. It is during the early years of life that individuals experience the most important cognitive and emotional developments that subsequently shape their identity and world-views. The capabilities of children and adolescents are formed through social interaction and receptiveness within the household and broader environments, and constitute to a large extent the foundation of a human being’s development. This means that understanding and assessing children’s and adolescents’ well-being cannot successfully be pursued by viewing them as miniature adults. Moreover, understanding adults’ well-being might not be possible without reference to these early stages in life. As a result, what might appear to be a simple technical question — namely, what is the most appropriate way of assessing children’s well-being? — may turn out to be a real challenge. To help address this challenge, this book develops the capability approach (CA) as a conceptual framework for understanding children’s well-being.

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