Helping teenagers to have a stronger self-awareness and a sense of purpose (rather than just being happy) improves their academic results and mental health, according to a study published in School Psychology Review.
The study involved over 600 teenagers from seven English schools, who were examined in two separate aspects of their wellbeing: life satisfaction and eudaimonia. For this study, life satisfaction was considered an indication about how happy the person is, and eudaimonia refers to how well the person feels they are functioning, including aspects like competence, motivation, and self-esteem.
The team from the University of Cambridge, UK, found that students with high eudaimonia outperformed their colleagues in school exams, especially maths. In contrast, the evidence didn’t support a link between school performance and life satisfaction. Despite this, child wellbeing in the UK focuses highly on promoting life satisfaction, and teenagers are taught about happiness and ways to deal with negative emotions.
This study suggests that promoting eudaimonic wellbeing by nurturing personal value and self-worth is more important. “Wellbeing education often focuses on teaching students about being happy and not being sad,” said Dr. Tania Clarke from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. “That is over-simplistic and overlooks other vital qualities of wellbeing that are particularly salient during the formative period of adolescence. Adolescents also need to develop self-awareness, confidence, and, ideally, a sense of meaning and purpose. Judging by our findings, an adolescent who is currently getting a 3 or 4 on their Maths GCSE could be helped to raise a couple of grades if schools emphasised these qualities for all students, rather than just promoting positivity and minimising negative emotions.”
According to the authors, the problem is that schools have a limited capacity to promote eudaimonic wellbeing. Many students equate “doing well” with getting good marks rather than valuing their own strengths and goals. Ironically, these results show that promoting personal growth, instead of just happiness, may help academic achievements. For some students, at least, the heavy emphasis on results may undermine academic progress.
Clarke suggested eudaimonic therapy for teenagers could be incorporated into wellbeing education. The aim is to help students understand their academic work in the context of their own personal motivations and goals. “There is a link between better wellbeing and a more nuanced understanding of academic success,” Clarke said. “Because schools are under heavy pressure to deliver academic results, at the moment, students seem to be measuring themselves against the exam system, rather than in terms of who they want to be or what they want to achieve.”
“Wellbeing education needs to move beyond notions of ‘boosting’ happiness towards deeper engagement, helping adolescents to realise their unique talents and aspirations, and a sense of what happiness means for them, personally. This would not just improve wellbeing: it is also likely to mean better exam results, and perhaps fewer issues for students later on,” added Dr. Ros McLellan, also from the Faculty of Education and co-author in the study.
Clarke T, McLellan R & Harold G (2023) Beyond Life Satisfaction: Wellbeing Correlates of Adolescents’ Academic Attainment, School Psychology Review, DOI: 10.1080/2372966X.2023.2217980