Inspiring adolescents to feel capable and meaningful rather than just happy, as was previously thought, may improve both their academic performance and mental health.
In a study conducted by the University of Cambridge, more than 600 teenagers from seven English schools participated. Life satisfaction and eudaimonia are the two components of well being that are looked at separately. Eudaimonia refers to how well one believes they are performing, whereas life satisfaction approximately equates to one’s level of happiness.
It includes motivational, self-esteem, and competent feelings. In GCSE-level exams, particularly in Maths, researchers discovered that pupils with high levels of eudaimonia consistently outperformed their peers. Average eudaimonic wellbeing levels were 1.5 times greater in maths students with the highest marks than in students with the lowest grades.
Academic achievement and personal satisfaction have no relationship at all. Although this is the case, English child welfare policies frequently emphasise life satisfaction. The Government, for instance, recently included “happiness” to national curricula as part of its Relationships, Sex, and Health Education (RSHE) recommendations, highlighting educating teenagers how to feel joyful and resilient while managing negative emotions.
By promoting their individual values, ambitions, and feeling of self-worth, teenagers can achieve eudaimonic wellbeing, according to prior study. The latest study seems to support that claim by showing a beneficial relationship between eudaimonia and academic achievement.
Dr. Tania Clarke, the study’s principal author, is a psychologist of education who currently works at the Youth Endowment Fund but originally conducted the study for her doctoral research at the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Education. Published results can be found in School Psychology Review.
“Wellbeing education often focuses on teaching students about being happy and not being sad.” Clarke said. “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 rise a couple of grades if schools emphasised these qualities for all students, rather than just promoting positivity and minimising negative emotions.”
A total of 607 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 15 participated in the study. Participants performed the “How I Feel About Myself and School” psychological test, which assesses feelings of interpersonal relatedness, negativity, and life satisfaction as well as eudaimonia. These measurements were contrasted with their fake GCSE English and Maths scores. The study examined the students’ “growth mindset”—a conviction in their own capacity for development—to see if it was there. Many instructors believe that improving academic success depends on this.
The students’ overall wellbeing – their eudaimonia and life satisfaction combined – clearly correlated positively with their exam results. Those attaining top Maths grades (Grades 8 or 9) had, on average, a wellbeing score of 32 out of a possible 50. This was nine points higher than those with a Grade 1, and three to four points higher than the average for all 607 students.
The study also found that a growth mindset did not predict good academic results, although students with high eudaimonic wellbeing did tend to exhibit such a mindset. Other research has similarly struggled to draw a clear link between growth mindset and academic progress, but does link it more generally to positive mental health. This implies that eudaimonia, as well as supporting better attainment, may also underpin important aspects of self-belief, leading to broader mental health benefits.
Clarke’s wider research suggests that various constraints currently limit schools’ capacity to promote eudaimonic wellbeing. In an earlier Review of Education article she published the results of in-depth interviews with some of the same students, which highlighted concerns about a ‘performativity culture’ stemming from a heavy emphasis on high-stakes testing. These interviews indicated that many students associate ‘doing well’ with getting good grades, rather than with their own strengths, values and goals.
Clarke suggested that eudaimonic therapy, which increasingly features in professional mental health psychology for adolescents, could be incorporated more into wellbeing education. In particular, her study underscores the need to help students understand their academic work and progress in the context of their 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.”
Dr Ros McLellan, from the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, who co-authored the study, said: “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.”