The Good Childhood Report 2012 from the UK

The latest well-being report by The Children's Society in the UK has found that half a million children across the country are unhappy with their lives.

Key findings include:

• Choice and family have the biggest impact on children’s happiness. 
• The quality of children’s relationships with their families is far more important than the structure of the family that they live in.
• Low well-being increases dramatically with age – doubling from the age of 10 (7%) to the age of 15 (14%).
• Children as young as eight are aware of the financial issues their families face.  Children in families who have experienced a reduction in income are more likely to have low well-being. 
• Children who do not have clothes to ‘fit in’ with peers are more than three times as likely to be unhappy with their appearance. Children who are unhappy with their appearance are also much more likely than average to experience frequent bullying.

Not sure if a lack of independence and the great outdoors factor into this but it's not good......
Check out Tim Gill's post on the report.

(The sour looking woman is Mrs Twit by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake.)