What does it mean “being chilled”? mental well-being as viewed by Slovak adolescent boys

Abstract

In adaptive development, mental well-being has a role to play in adolescents’ search in adolescents’ niche in life and the formation of a separate identity. Although this has been an area of interest in a number of disciplines, there remains ambiguity over our understanding of terms such as quality of life, life satisfaction, and mental well-being. Our aim was to employ an interpretative phenomenological analysis to find out how adolescent boys perceive the concept of mental well-being and ascertain what helps them and stops them from “feeling chilled”. The data was obtained from a sample of 26 secondary school students who attended one of four focus groups. We found that they achieved a kind of escape from the world of social roles through performing activities like physical exercise or driving a vehicle, while searching for a sense of latitude and potency and attempting to reduce tension. Thus there is a clear distinction between what they desire and what is expected of them. Hanging out and “chilling” with their peer group seemed to be an important part of relationship formation, while close dyadic relationships were less significant. To a certain degree, the results of this study contradict conventional notions of happiness and mental well-being found in mainstream psychology.

Children’s Lived Experiences of Wellbeing at School in England: a Phenomenological Inquiry

“…Unpacking children's lived experiences of wellbeing (Fattore et al, 2019), their emotional texture, attributed meanings, and nuance, can provide deeper insights into themes. Phenomenological approaches facilitate this level of in-depth understanding, allowing researchers to answer questions of why factors affect children's wellbeing and how they are experienced (Balážová & Uhrecký, 2018). Yet phenomenological inquiries with children tend to focus on mental ill-health, rather than wellbeing.…”

Do scores ‘define’ us? Adolescents' experiences of wellbeing as ‘welldoing’ at school in England

“…Notably, while adolescents' mental ill ‐health experiences are the topic of much phenomenological research (Harper et al, 2014; Hassett & Isbister, 2017; Punton et al, 2022; Wiens et al, 2014; Woodgate et al, 2020), adolescents' wellbeing experiences are rarely explored phenomenologically (Balážová & Uhrecký, 2018). Since wellbeing is part of mental health (Keyes, 2002; World Health Organisation, 2020) and positive psychology underlines the importance of studying human flourishing beyond languishing (Seligman & Csikszentmihaly, 2000), phenomenological inquiries into adolescents' wellbeing are needed.…”