What Are Good Child Outcomes?

This paper considers the question "What are good child outcomes?" from the perspectives of developmental psychology, economics, and sociology. Section 1 of the paper examines good child outcomes as characteristics of stage-salient tasks of development. Section 2 emphasizes the acquisition of "human capital," the development of productive traits such as cognitive ability, educational achievement, practical risk-taking, delayed gratification, and occupational decision-making. This section discusses critical constructs such as delayed gratification, risk tolerance, and career construction. Section 3 deals with social capacity, the ability to interact positively in intimate relationships and demonstrate positive concern and caring in a larger social arena. This section discusses central social relationships and suggests markers of successful devc1cpment at each stage. Section 4 discusses points of overlap among the three perspectives. Drawing upon the three perspectives, this section suggests that good child outcomes would include the presence of: trust; security; exploration and self-regulation; competent language use; cognitive development and general knowledge; physical well-being and motor development; social problem-solving skills; personal identity; connections with parents and friends; empathy and caring; reading and math skills; the ability to delay gratification; the ability to take practical risks and develop an occupation choice; motivation toward entrepreneurship; the extension of attachments from family members to others; concern for other social groups; and volunteer efforts on behalf of others. The paper concludes by suggesting that identifying positive goals for children with significantly alter the nature of discussions about children and families and have implications for data collection. Contains 91 references. (KB) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************************