Care and Freedom: Theoretical and Empirical Aspects of Children’s Well-Being in Germany

In 2007, we published the first survey on children in Germany. In that “1st World Vision Children Study,” we decided to perform
more than just a representative and standardized questionnaire survey of 1,600 children aged 8–11 years. We also chose to
carry out qualitative interviews linked together with a game, and to extend these interviews to include children from the
age of 6 years onward. One important finding of the 2007 survey was the devastating impact of social inequality on children’s
lives and the growing numbers of children who experience poverty. In 2010, we published a new survey of children, the “2nd
World Vision Study.” This covered a sample of 2,500 children aged 6 to 11 years. We added some questions on the feelings and
everyday life experiences children have when they are poor. We also included questions on respect, and self-efficacy. Both
studies are based on a concept of child well-being. We consider that the World Vision Study of 2010 delivers one major finding:
What contributes to the well-being of children in Germany is the granting of freedoms and the experiences of autonomy embedded
among experiences of parental care within committed relationships. Hence, it is precisely a combination of freedom and parental
care, of co-determination and protection that leads to a high life satisfaction in 6- to 11-year-olds.