Muutused Eesti laste psühholoogilises heaolus aastatel 2013-2021

Abstract

In my bachelor's thesis, I investigated what changes have occurred in children's psychological well-being assessment between 2013-2021, using Estonian data from the International Survey of Children's Well-being for the years 2013, 2018, and 2021. I focused on 6th grade students' responses about their well-being. I used frequency distributions, cross tabulations, analysis of variance, multinomial regression analysis and T-test to find the research results. Just over half of the children in the survey rate their psychological well-being as average, the proportion of children with a low well-being rating has risen and just under half rate their well-being as high. Autonomy, positive relations with others, and purpose in life were rated highest, and self-acceptance and personal growth were rated lowest. Comparing the 2013 and 2018 results with those of 2021, the biggest changes occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, with all psychological well-being ratings decreasing. Specifically, girls tended to be more critical than boys about their psychological well-being, which was particularly noticeable in 2021. While in 2013 girls rated themselves lower than boys on self-acceptance and environmental mastery, then in 2021 girls rated themselves lower on their relationships with others and on the purposefulness of their lives. My thesis found that psychological well-being is significantly related to children's subjective evaluations of their home, school and friends. Specifically, children with low psychological wellbeing rate lower than children with medium and high wellbeing in terms of satisfaction with family members, not feeling safe at home and school, and how teachers listen to them. Based on the results of the thesis and the psychological well-being assessments, it can be said that between 2013 and 2021, changes in children's psychological well-being have been on a negative downward trend. In the future, the needs of the child need to be taken into account in order to support and enhance their well-being. It would also be necessary to pay attention to the sources of stress and the ways to mitigate them.