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This volume examines the evolution of the Child Well-Being Index and what it promises for understanding the progress in enhancing life prospects. It also looks at the methodological issues involved in the construction of composite quality-of-life indices.

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In 1998, the Foundation for Child Development (FCD) provided Kenneth Land a grant to explore the feasibility of producing the first national composite index of the status of American children that would chart changes in their well-being over time. Important questions needed to be answered: was it possible to trace trends in child and youth well-being over several decades? Could such an index provide a way of determining whether the United States was making progress in improving its children´s lives? The Index of Child and Youth Well-Being (CWI) was born from these questions. Viewing the CWI trends from 1975 to present, there is evidence that the well-being of American children lags behind other Western nations. As conditions change, it is clear that the index is an evolving and rich enterprise. This volume attests to that evolution, and what the CWI promises for understanding the progress - or lack of progress - in enhancing the life prospects of all American children. _

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Forward by Ruby Takanishi, President, Foundation for Child Development .-

Acknowledgments.-

About the Authors.-

1. Introduction - Kenneth C. Land .-

2. Conceptual and Methodological Foundations of the Child and Youth Well-Being Index - Kenneth C. Land, Vicki L. Lamb, and Sarah Meadows.-

3. The CWI and Its Components: Empirical Studies and Findings - Kenneth C. Land, Vicki L. Lamb, Sarah Meadows, Hui Zheng, and Qiang Fu .-

4. Measuring Social Disparities via the CWI: Race-Ethnicity, Income, and Immigrant Status - Donald Hernandez, Suzanne Macartney, and Wendy Cervantes.-

5. Research on the Subjective Well-Being of Children and Youth and Its Implications for the CWI - E. Scott Huebner, Susan Antaramian, and Ashley D. Lewis.-

6. Issues in Composite Index Construction - Michael Hagerty and Kenneth C. Land.-

7. Scalability of the CWI: State-Level Indicators and Composite Indices - Vicki L. Lamb and William P. O´Hare.-

8. Scalability of the CWI: Sub-State Regional Indicators and Composite Indices - Qiang Fu, Vicki L. Lamb, and Kenneth C. Land .-

9. Intergenerational and Cross-National Comparisons of Child and Youth Well-Being - Kenneth C. Land, Vicki L. Lamb, and Hui Zheng .-

10. Policy Connections and Practical Implications of the CWI - Megan A. Curran, Shadi Houshyar, and Bruce Lesley .-

11. Conclusions and Future Directions - Kenneth C. Land

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From the reviews:

"Chapters are devoted to describing the construction, testing, and use of the instruments; reporting the decades-long results; and discussing how the results could, or should, be used to remedy some of the state and local discrepancies in the well-being of children. ... The book will be of particular value to policy makers but will also be of interest to those who wish to have a better understanding of the overall well-being of children and youths in this country." (David Elkind, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 58 (5), January, 2013)

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