Profiles of School-Related Well-Being and Their Links to Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement

Abstract

Abstract. School represents an essential developmental context for adolescents. Accordingly, understanding well-being in school is of utmost importance. While it has long been common to measure well-being on a general level, more recent conceptualizations emphasize its multidimensionality and context-specificity. Therefore, the present study took a person-oriented approach and investigated how profiles of adolescents’ school-related well-being differ regarding two relevant goals of schooling: academic achievement and self-esteem. School-related well-being was assessed along five dimensions: engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, and happiness among Austrian students ( N = 1,484). By applying latent profile analyses, we obtained four profiles that differed primarily regarding their total school-related well-being scores and the expression of connectedness. Generally, groups with a higher total score displayed higher academic achievement and self-esteem. However, there are also exceptions standing out from that pattern. Different constellations are discussed, aiming to contribute to further differentiating research on well-being in the school-context.

Stichwort: Prävention psychischer Störungen von Schüler:innen in Schule und Unterricht

“…Es ist wissenschaftlicher Konsens, dass Schule und Unterricht viel mehr zur gesunden Entwicklung und psychischen Gesundheit beitragen als erfolgreiches Lernen (Holzer, Korlat, Bürger, Spiel & Schober, 2022). Sie bedeuten unter anderem einen wichtigen Raum für Selbstwirksamkeitserleben, soziale Begegnungen, Kontakt zu Gleichaltrigen, Tagesstruktur, aber auch Versorgungs-und Schutzraum besonders für sozial benachteiligte sowie gefährdete Kinder und Jugendliche (Plötner, Moldt, In-Albon & Schmitz, 2022).…”

Selected personality correlates of procrastination in Polish adolescents–preliminary report

“…It should be noted that the goals of teenagers today are rather closely related to their school achievements (Holzer, Korlat, Bürger, Spiel, Schober, 2022;Karababa, 2022). Studies show that school achievements are an essential aspect of young people's positive self-evaluation and general well-being because satisfactory academic achievements imply a range of rewards, such as public praise or perks (Holzer et al, 2022;Orth, Robins, 2022;Karababa, 2022).…”

“…It should be noted that the goals of teenagers today are rather closely related to their school achievements (Holzer, Korlat, Bürger, Spiel, Schober, 2022;Karababa, 2022). Studies show that school achievements are an essential aspect of young people's positive self-evaluation and general well-being because satisfactory academic achievements imply a range of rewards, such as public praise or perks (Holzer et al, 2022;Orth, Robins, 2022;Karababa, 2022). For such reasons, young people develop many habits linked to their task-oriented functioning, for example, conscientious work in the face of various distractors, or day-planning associated with organising their time spent on both learning and recreation (Cardoso, Duarte, Pacheco, Janeiro, 2022).…”

“…Such habits determine their task efficiency and how effectively they perform various duties while deriving satisfaction from the lifestyle they have chosen (Orth, Robins, 2022). Perpetuation of wrong habits, for example, through avoiding confrontation with difficult situations or a delayed performance of important tasks deliberately can be a risk factor for effective career planning, future functioning as an employee, or on a wider plane, fulfilment of other life roles (Holzer et al, 2022;Karababa, 2022).…”

How Does Well-Being in School Matter?

“…The first four articles are dedicated to student well-being. In the first article, Julia Holzer, Selma Korlat, Sarah Bürger, Christiane Spiel, and Barbara Schober (2022) apply latent profile analyses to differentiate four well-being profiles in cross-sectional data of Austrian students in secondary education. They find that students who express higher school-related well-being and connectedness also show higher academic achievement and self-esteem scores.…”