How Age and Gender Shape Well-Being at School: What Adolescents’ Experiences Tell Us
Much of the existing research on student well-being relies on broad indicators such as overall life satisfaction. In contrast, this study takes a more fine-grained approach, viewing school-related well-being as a multidimensional experience. Maksim Kudryashov and Tatjana Kanonire examine not only how satisfied students feel with school, but also how they experience the school environment, interact with classmates, perceive their own physical well-being, and relate emotionally to everyday school life. Their article, The subjective well-being of adolescents in Russian secondary school: a cross-sectional study, published in the International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, addresses an important gap in research on adolescence by showing that different components of well-being follow different trajectories across school years.
This study aims to address the gap in understanding the nuanced components of SWB among adolescents in secondary school.
The study draws on data from nearly two thousand students aged 11 to 17, enrolled in Grades 5 through 9 in public schools in a large Russian city. This allowed the researchers to trace how students’ experiences change as they move through key stages of lower secondary education.
The results show that well-being at school is not a simple upward or downward trend. Satisfaction with school gradually declines from Grade 5 to Grade 8, before rising again in Grade 9. Feelings about the school environment fluctuate as well, with noticeable drops around Grades 6 and 8. These shifts suggest that early adolescence—especially the transition into Grade 6—can be a particularly vulnerable period, when developmental changes coincide with increasing academic and social demands.
At the same time, not all aspects of school life deteriorate. Relationships with peers and collaboration with classmates tend to improve as students grow older. This finding highlights the growing importance of friendships during adolescence and points to the positive social role schools can play by creating environments that support peer interaction and a sense of belonging.
School plays a positive social role for adolescents, as interpersonal relationships become crucial at this age, and an appropriate physical school environment can facilitate peer interaction.
The study also revealed clear gender differences. Boys consistently reported higher levels of physical well-being than girls, with the gap widening from the middle to the upper grades. Girls reported slightly more positive emotions towards school in Grade 5, but this difference disappeared in later years. By Grade 9, boys also reported greater satisfaction with the school environment and higher overall well-being. Researchers suggest that girls' lower physical well-being may be influenced by concerns about body image, physiological changes and societal pressures, including media portrayals of idealised beauty.
Negative body image in adolescent girls is influenced by multidimensional perceptions of physical appearance, shaped by sociocultural, biological, and psychological factors.
Beyond describing patterns, the study offers important lessons for educational practice. It shows that focusing only on general measures of well-being may obscure critical moments when students need additional support. Regularly monitoring specific components—such as peer relationships, satisfaction with school, and physical well-being—can help schools design more targeted and developmentally sensitive interventions.
One especially important insight is that peer relationships can act as a protective resource when students’ satisfaction with school declines. By fostering supportive social environments and paying attention to gender-specific risks, schools can play a key role in promoting healthier and more positive school experiences.
The authors note that future research could deepen this understanding by following students over time, examining different socio-cultural contexts, and identifying concrete school-level practices that support well-being. Such evidence is essential for helping schools become places where academic learning and adolescents’ well-being develop hand in hand.