What makes young people most happy?
Youth say health, belonging and even pets are most important for their well-being, report says
A new UNICEF report says children and youth consider holistic health, having a sense of belonging and being treated with respect among the factors that are important to their happiness and well-being.
The report, titled “My Cat Makes Me Happy: What children and youth say about measuring their well-being” highlights the findings of six workshops held across the country, in which young people discussed what mattered to their happiness.
The report found that economic opportunities, access to activities and education, and not facing discrimination were also priorities for youth well-being — as were positive friendships, having a permanent, caring adult in their lives, future opportunities, and safe environments.
When assessing well-being, researchers often look at objective measures such as physical health, grades, obesity rates, screen time — “things that are really measurable,” said Alli Truesdell, UNICEF Canada’s Youth Participation Lead.
“We want to be measuring things beyond that, and the only way to figure out what matters . . . to their well-being is actually going out and asking young people themselves.”
UNICEF commissioned the report in response to Canada’s “mediocre” performance on a 2013 UNICEF report card, where it ranked 17th out of 29 rich countries on overall child well-being. When children rated their own sense of happiness, Canada dropped to 24th out of 29 countries.
As of 2017, UNICEF says Canada ranks 25th out of 41 rich nations when it comes to child well-being.
This report was one of the ways UNICEF is trying to improve the country’s ranking by better understanding youth well-being, and included a review of 25 years’ worth of information on the subject.
The workshops, which included about 80 participants between the ages of 11 and 21, were held in Toronto, Kitchener-Waterloo, Victoria, Whitehorse, an Indigenous reserve in Manawan, Que., and a youth closed custody facility in the Atlantic region. Young people talked about what mattered to their own happiness, and built their own “index” for best measuring child and youth wellbeing.
Health was one of the most frequently mentioned theme among the workshops, with young people discussing the need for a balance between physical, mental and spiritual health, the report said.
Having a sense of belonging was another priority — and was described differently by youth in different communities. Indigenous youth in Quebec described belongingness as being connected to nature, their Elders and culture, for example, while youth in Toronto frequently described their peers and social interactions as important to a feeling of belonging.
As the title suggests, pets also “came up time and time again,” said Truesdell. Participants often said things like “‘my cat makes me happy,’ or ‘when I’m feeling stressed I go and hang out with my dog and I feel better,’ ” she said.
Having access to safe and healthy environments was another common theme.
Liam Bullock, 17, was one of the youth participants in the Toronto workshop. He says his surroundings and support networks have a big influence on his own sense of wellbeing.
“All the support I have from high school teachers to guidance counsellors, family, friends,” he said. “My surroundings are the biggest factor.”
Truesdell said this report highlights the importance of involving youth in the research process. She said it also suggests researchers should go deeper when assessing youth well-being, and consider factors that aren’t explicitly measurable — such as how a pet might affect a child’s happiness.
Olivia Lam, 16, is involved with UNICEF projects and gave feedback on the report. She said child and youth well-being is currently measured on a very “surface level” way, and undervalues factors such as friendships and relationships.
“I think if there are improvements to the kind of questions that are being asked to measure child well-being in Canada, I think we’d get a much better vision of how youth are doing,” Lam said.
UNICEF will use this report as it designs a Canadian Index of Child and Youth Well-being. The index will be part of its One Youth movement launching this fall, which aims to make Canada “the best place to grow up in by 2030.”
“My surroundings are the biggest factor.” LIAM BULLOCK YOUTH PARTICIPANT IN THE TORONTO WORKSHOP