Well-being, school-related happiness and usage of strengths among sixth and ninth graders
Keywords:
wellbeing, school-related happiness, strengths, adolescentsAbstract
The experiences of PERMA theory-based (Seligman 2011) well-being, school-related happiness and the usage of strengths were examined in 175 sixth and ninth graders. The aim was to study the subjective views of the respondents and find the factors supporting well-being in school. Based on the quantitative survey, the majority of the participants seemed to be doing well, they thrived in school and used their strengths. Unlike in previous studies, well-being was higher among the girls than among the boys in both grades. The boys in sixth and ninth grade experienced less engagement and connectedness than the girls, and the boys in the ninth grade were less persistent than the girls in the same age group. There was no decrease in either genders’ general well-being between the sixth to the ninth grade. However, schoolrelated happiness did decrease between the grades. To contrast the other groups, the ninth-grade-boys’ strength usage did not correlate with well-being or schoolrelated happiness. The results imply that schools can have potential to increase all students’ well-being by supporting participatory experiences and helping them find their strengths.
