| Given that approximately 56% of South Africa's children live in income impoverished households (households living on approximately $60 per month; Hall, 2013), there continues to be great concern for children's economic well-being and their development. Though researchers have recognized the need for better multidimensional models of economic well-being, those developed thus far lack strong theoretical grounding or rigorous methodology for selecting items and defining dimensions. This dissertation is composed of three separate, yet unified, papers that together seek to contribute to the literature theoretically, methodologically and empirically to offer a model for conceptualizing and measuring childhood economic well-being in South Africa. Paper 1 fills theoretical gaps by using the bioecological model and integrating theories of poverty and deprivation to conceptualize childhood economic well-being multidimensionally across the ecological systems relevant to children in South Africa. This work systematically and explicitly identifies relevant considerations for item selection across all bioecological systems, including specific focus on South African culture and context.;Paper 2 builds on the theoretical foundation provided in Paper 1 to empirically construct and dimensionally define economic well-being, using rigorous exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic methodology with an indigenous Black African isiZulu community sample (N = 1,958) from a highly impoverished province of South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal. Paper 2 finds support for a higher-order model of economic well-being composed of three separate subfactors: Fiscal Appraisal, Material Assets, and Fiscal Capacity.;Paper 3 builds on the theoretical and methodological foundation of Papers 1 and 2 to test the relationship between both the higher-order model of economic well-being and each of the separate dimensions of economic well-being with a range of children's developmental outcomes (mental health, physical health, and cognitive functioning) in the same isiZulu community sample. The findings in Paper 3 indicate that the higher-order model of economic well-being is associated with a range of child outcomes. Further, there is also support for potential differential relationships between the three subfactors of economic well-being and children's developmental outcomes. While each paper uniquely contributes to the South African literature, together they offer a theory-based conceptualization and investigation into the economic well-being of children in South Africa. |
