Children’s Wellbeing Perspectives at Age 10–11 years: A Participatory Research Approach

Abstract Children’s wellbeing is a growing public health concern, with trajectories shown to decline from as young as 10 years old. In response, this area has gained prominence across research, policy, and practice. However, younger children’s views are often excluded when researching, measuring or promoting their wellbeing. This study contributes towards addressing that gap and provides further understanding of the influential factors impacting upon children’s wellbeing in Northern Ireland (NI) at age 10–11 years. Using multimodal participatory research methods (draw, write and tell technique, and diamond ranking), 30 children recruited from a diverse range of primary school contexts (five schools) expressed and prioritised factors impacting their wellbeing based on their lived experiences as 10–11-year-old children. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Children identified thirteen key factors representing subthemes interwoven across three themes of physical, emotional/mental, and environmental wellbeing, that can either support or challenge their wellbeing depending on the context. Hobbies, exercise, relationships with family and peers, and education/learning opportunities are the four most salient factors influencing child wellbeing at age 10–11 years. Other factors impacting wellbeing included screens/devices, food, outdoors/nature, sleep, happiness, pets, money, religiosity and safety. The findings from this study provide a comprehensive understanding of children’s wellbeing, not only concerning factors impeding their wellbeing but also the importance of factors contributing to their wellbeing. Furthermore, this study offers empirical evidence to support the inclusion of younger children as active participants in wellbeing research, addressing existing gaps to ensure the accurate measurement and representation of their experiences in NI.