Book overview: 7 Dimensions of Children’s Emotional Well-being
Book Overview: 7 Dimensions of Children’s Emotional Well-being, Jean Annan (2022).
The 7 Dimensions framework
7 Dimensions: Children’s Emotional Well-being introduces a conceptual framework that comprises seven interrelated aspects of children’s psychological well-being. The framework, based on neuropsychology and the theories of psychological development that are supported by this science, is designed to guide the processes of understanding and supporting children’s emotional well-being. It is applicable for optimising regular classroom interaction or for planning focused responses in more challenging circumstances. The framework prompts practitioners to take a broad view of children’s emotional well-being, to recognise the strengths and surrounding supports that serve as platforms for children’s to grow, recover or flourish and to discern pivotal dimensions for enhancing learning and well-being.
What is emotional well-being?
In the 7 Dimensions book, emotional well-being is described as a balance between resources available to a child and the opportunities and challenges they encounter. Resources comprise the personal resources the child has amassed through their lived experience as well as the social and environmental supports they have accessible to them. Hence, emotional well-being is not centred squarely within the child but occupies a negotiable space between the young person and their world. Well-being is a positive state, a circumstance in which a person flourishes in reciprocity within their social and cultural environment.
Organisation of the 7 Dimensions
Each of the seven dimensions of emotional well-being are explained, justified and discussed through the book. Diagrams and text illustrate how the seven dimensions are organised across three layers. The inner and outer layers represent indicators of emotional well-being (safety and meaning) and the middle layer is made up of the four dimensions that impact safety and meaning.
What are the 7 Dimensions of Children’s Well-being?
1. Sense of safety.
Sense of safety is the basis of emotional well-being. “Am I safe?” is the first question we ask at birth. It is a question we repeat for the rest of our lives. Sense of safety, and the sense of control and agency it enables, are fundamental to children’s well-being.
2. Alliance.
The dimension of alliance includes attachments, friendships and other significant relationships. Alliances are strong when children feel that someone is at their side, when someone cares about them and has their best interests at heart. Alliances provide protection and develop in tandem with sense of safety.
3. Positive experience.
Children who enjoy a high proportion of positive emotions are more likely than those whose emotions are experienced as dominantly negative to interpret their current circumstances as enjoyable or fulfilling. Furthermore, they are more likely to be optimistic about their paths ahead, anticipating that future interactions will be positive.
4. Consistency.
Children seek to identify patterns of interactions around them and work to reconcile their developing internal, mental frameworks with these patterns. High levels of consistency across a child’s experiences help them to make sense of their worlds and appreciate how they fit in, allowing their neuro-plastic brains to develop ‘approach’ rather than ‘avoidant’ neural pathways.
5. Optimal disequilibrium.
Optimal disequilibrium refers to children’s most advantageous balance of familiarity and challenge. It is a band of experience that promotes optimal learning and positive growth. This band is not constant, children’s tolerance for disequilibrium broadening and narrowing in relation to the social, historical and temporal contexts of activity.
6. Meaning: Self-narrative.
Positive self-narratives support children to view the world optimistically and approach life with a strong sense of self-worth. Children’s self-narratives, helpful and otherwise, develop in accordance with children’s reciprocal experience with their dynamic surroundings. They are constructed through the synthesis of the multiple stories they hold about interaction within their particular social, cultural and historical environments. They are reflected in every response children make.
7. Meaning: Sense of belonging.
Children’s sense of belonging comprises their perceived identity – their niche in the social world, the meaning of their existence and the purpose of their activity. As for adults, children sense belonging when they are included in and contribute to something that is bigger than them as individuals.
What the book does?
7 Dimensions: Children’s Emotional Well-being is written for teachers and other practitioners who work with young people. However, the principles for supporting children’s emotional well-being are applicable for parents and the many other people concerned with children’s learning and development. The book includes the following information.
The rationale for and nature of each of the dimensions
Research and psychological theory on which each dimension’s inclusion in the framework is based
Relationships among the seven dimensions
Principles for supporting each dimension in educational environments
Application of the framework in educational settings by teachers and specialist educators and the role that adult well-being plays in supporting children’s well-being.
The section on the practical application of the 7 Dimensions framework illustrates how it can be used by psychologists, school staff and other educational practitioners to facilitate mutual understandings of the complex social and learning situations surrounding young people, including those in emotionally stressful situations. It demonstrates the essential role of recognising positive factors as foundations for moving forward and the importance of minimally intrusive change activity to work effectively while preserving existing supports. The application chapter reports on how one school staff reviewed and revised classroom practices related to children’s emotional well-being, linking the 7 Dimensions to other school systems in order to proactively support their students on an everyday basis.
To cite 7 Dimensions: Children’s emotional well-being.
Annan, J. (2022). 7 Dimensions: Children’s emotional well-being. Auckland, Mary-Egan Publishing. ISBN: 9780473634407