Student Well-Being in the Context of Erik Allardt’s Theory of Welfare and Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory of Development
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/PBE.2021.039Abstract
Well-being can be described as the balance point between an individual’s resources and difficult events in their life (Dodge et al., 2012). A student’s well-being at school determines their educational success and functioning within their peer group in the school environment (Karataias et al., 2001; Huebner & Gilman, 2002; Polard & Lee, 2003; Engels et al., 2004; Konu & Lintonen, 2005; Soutter et al., 2013; Renshaw et al., 2015; Opre et al., 2018). The purpose of this article is to identify indicators of student well-being in four categories: school conditions, interpersonal relationships, means of self-realization, and health referring to the School Well-Being Model by Konu and Rimpelā (Konu et al., 2002) (based on Allardt’s concept) and situating them in Bronfenbrenner’s socio-ecological system.
Having analyzed Erik Allardt’s concept we decided to apply the dimensions of wellbeing he proposes to create measurable categories for recognizing levels of well-being. Allardt identifies three dimensions: having, loving, and being. Students’ assessment of the school situation in the context of individual preferences cannot be neglected, since well-being affects taking on challenges related to various educational tasks. Adequate recognition of difficulties makes it possible to intervene in areas that are most important to promoting well-being. The development and functioning of individuals depend on contexts which are described as the five systems in the ecological model: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem. The proposed well-being indicators can be used as items in questionnaire studies to obtain a multifaceted view of the conditions that influence students’ sense of well-being. Recognizing the problem correctly allows the student to take corrective measures. The presented structure of student well-being indicators can be supplemented and expanded, to adapt to social, political, and health changes.
References
Allardt, E. (1973). A Welfare Model for Selecting Indicators of National Development. Policy Sciences, 4, 63–74, doi: 10.1007/BF01404933.
Allardt, E. (1989). Recent Developments in Scandinavian Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 15, 31–45, doi: 10.1146/annurev.so.15.080189.000335.
Allardt, E. (2003). Having, Loving, Being: An Alternative to the Swedish Model of Welfare Research. In: M. Nussbaum, & A. Sen. The Quality of Life. Retrieved 20 August 2021 from: https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0198287976.001.0001/acprof-9780198287971-chapter-8?print=pdf.
Banaś, A., Wichowicz, H., Gałuszko, M., & Jakuszkowiak, K (2005). Współchorobowość somatyczna w zaburzeniach depresyjnych [Somatic Comorbidity in Depressive Disorders]. Psychiatria w Praktyce Ogólnolekarskiej, 2(5), 69–73.
Barrett, F.L. (2020). Jak powstają emocje. Sekretne życie mózgu [How Emotions Are Made. The Secret Life of the Brain]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo CeDeWu.
Ben-Arieh, A., & Frønes, I. (2011). Taxonomy for Child Well-Being Indicators: A Framework for the Analysis of the Well-Being of Children. Childhood, (4), 460–476, doi: 10.1177/0907568211398159.
Brandon, T.H. (1994). Negative Affect as Motivation to Smoke. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 3, 33–37, doi: 10.1111%2F1467-8721.ep10769919.
Caprara, G.V., Barbaranelli, C., Pastorelli, C., Bandura, A., & Zimbardo, P.H. (2000). Prosocial Foundations of Children’s Academic Achievement. American Psychological Society, 11(4), 302–306, doi: 10.1111/1467-9280.00260.
Cocoradă, E., & Orzea, I.E. (2017). Relationships Between Wellbeing, Resilience and School Climate. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov – Special Issue Series VII: Social Sciences • Law •10(59), 2, 191–200, doi: 10.1016/j.ijer.2018.01.012.
Cohen, S., & Pressman, S.D. (2006). Positive Affect and Health. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(3), 122–125, doi: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2006.00420.x.
Diener, E., Lucas, R.E., & Scollon, C.N. (2006). Beyond the Hedonic Treadmill: Revising the Adaptation Theory of Well-Being. American Psychologist, 61(4), 305–314, doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.61.4.305.
Dodge, R., Daly, A.P., Huyton, J., & Sanders, L.D. (2012). The Challenge of Defining Wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 2(3), 222–235, doi: 10.5502/ijw.v2i3.4.
Engels, N., Aelterman, A., Schepens, A., & Van Petegem, K. (2004). Factors which Influence the Well-Being of Pupils in Flemish Secondary Schools. Educational Studies, 30, 127–143, doi: 10/1080.0305569032000159787.
Epstein, J.L., & Mcpartland, J.M. (1976). The Concept and Measurement of the Quality of School Life. The American Educational Research Journal (AERJ), 13(1), 15–30, doi: 10.3102/00028312013001015.
Fraillon, J. (The Australian Council for Educational Research) (2004). Measuring Student Well-Being in the Context of Australian Schooling: Discussion Paper Commissioned by the South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services as an Agent of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). Retrieved 20 August 2021 from: http://works.bepress.com/julian_fraillon/60/.
Fredrickson, B.L., Tugade, M.M., Waugh, Ch.E., & Larkin, G.R. (2003). What Good Are Positive Emotions in Crises? A Prospective Study of Resilience and Emotions Following the Terrorist Attacks on the United States on September 11th, 2001. The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 365–376, doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.84.2.365.
Gaweł, A. (2009). Środowisko psychospołeczne szkoły a zdrowie uczniów [Psychosocial Environment of School and Students’ Health]. Kultura i Edukacja, 1(70), 92–110.
Huebner, E.S., & Gilman, R. (2002). An Introduction to the Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale. Social Indicators Research, 60, 115–122, doi: 10.1023/A:1021252812882.
Huppert, F.A. (2009). Psychological Well-Being: Evidence Regarding its Causes and Consequences. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-being, 1(2), 137–164, doi: 10.1111/j.1758-0854.2009.01008.x.
Irvin, M. (1999). Immune Correlates of Depression. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 461, 1–24, doi: 10.1007/978-0-585-37970-8_10854.2009.01008.x.
Karatzias, A., Power, K.G., & Swanson, V. (2001). Quality of School Life: Development and Preliminary Standardisation of an Instrument Based on Performance Indicators in Scottish Secondary Schools. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 12(3), 265–284, doi: 10.1076/sesi.12.3.265.3449.
Keith, K.D., Schalock, R.L. (1994). The Measurement of Quality of Life in Adolescence: The Quality of Student Life Questionnaire. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 22(1), 83–87, doi: 10.1080/01926189408251300.
Kizeweter, A. (2016). Szczęśliwy uczeń – szczęśliwy nauczyciel. Dobrostan szkolny wyzwaniem dla edukacji [Happy Student – Happy Teacher. School Welfare as a Challenge for Education]. In: J. Skibska, & J. Wojciechowska (Eds.), Współczesna edukacja. Wielopłaszczyznowość zadań [Contemporary Education. Multidimensionality of Tasks] (pp. 27–36). Kraków: Wydawnictwo LIBRON.
Kristof, A.L. (1996). Person-Organization Fit: An Integrative Review of Its Conceptualizations, Measurements, and Implications. Personell Psychology, 49, 1–49, doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1996.tb01790.x.
Konu, A., Alanen, E., Lintonen, T., & Rimpelä, M. (2002). Factor Structure of the School Well-Being Model. Health Education Research, 17(6), 732–742, doi: 10.1093/her/17.6.732.
Konu, A., & Lintonen, T. (2005). Theory-Based Survey Analysis of Well-Being in Secondary Schools in Finland. Health Promotion International, 21(1), 27–36, doi: 10.1093/heapro/dai028.
Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. (2005). The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803–855, doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.131.6.803.
Nesse, R.M. (2020). Dobre powody złego samopoczucia. Odkrycia psychiatrii ewolucyjnej [Good Reasons for Bad Feelings. Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry]. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo CeDeWu.
Nyczaj-Drąg, M. (2003). W poszukiwaniu teoretycznych podstaw badań nad samopoczuciem ucznia w szkole [In Search of Theoretical Foundations for Research on Student Well-Being at School]. Rocznik Lubuski, XXIX. In: K. Ferenz (Ed.), Dziecko w codzienności szkolnej [A Child in Everyday School Life] (pp. 65–74).
Opre, D., Pintea, S., Opre, A., & Bertea, M. (2018). Measuring Adolescents’ Subjective Well-Being in Educational Context: Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Instrument. Journal of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies, 18(2), 161–180, doi: 10.24193/jebp.2018.2.20.
Petelewicz, M. (2016). Jakość życia dzieci a status społeczno-ekonomiczny rodziny. Teoria i badania. [The Quality of Life of Children and the Socio-Economic Status of the Family. Theory and Research]. Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego.
Pollard, E.L., & Lee, P.D. (2003). Child Well-Being: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Social Indicators Research, 61(1), 59–78, doi: 10.1023/A%3A1021284215801.
Renshaw, T.L., & Arslan, G. (2016). Psychometric Properties of the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire with Turkish Adolescents. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 31(2), 139–151, doi: 10.1177/0829573516634644.
Renshaw, T.L., Long, A.C.J., & Cook, C.R. (2015). Assessing Adolescents’ Positive Psychological Functioning At School: Development and Validation of the Student Subjective Wellbeing Questionnaire. School Psychology Quarterly, 30(4), 534–552.
Ryff, C.D., & Keyes, C.L.M. (1995). The Structure of Psychological Well-Being Revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727, doi: 10.1037/spq0000088.
Rzeszutek, M., & Schier, K. (2008). Tak bolesne, że aż obce? – związek pomiędzy depresją a obrazem ciała u młodych dorosłych. [So Painful that it’s Alien? – the Relationship Between Depression and the Image Body in Young Adults]. Psychoterapia, 4(47), 5–16.
Salovey, P., Rothman, A.J., Detweiler, J.B., & Steward, W.T. (2000). Emotional States and Physical Health. The American Psychologist Association, 1(55), 110–121, doi: 10.1037//0003-066X.55.1.110.
Soutter, A.K., O’Steen, B., & Gilmore, A. (2013). The Student Well-Being Model: A Conceptual Framework for the Development of Student Well-Being Indicators. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 19(4), 496–520, doi: 10.1080/02673843.2012.754362.
Student Wellbeing (2018). Engagement and Learning Across the Middle Years the Centre for Adolescent Health is a Research Group of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. Commonwealth of Australia.
Szyszko-Bohusz, A. (1989). Pedagogika holistyczna [Holistic Pedagogy]. Wrocław: Ossolineum.
Tian, L., Wang, D., & Huebner, E.S. (2015). Development and Validation of the Brief Adolescents’ Subjective Well-Being in School Scale (BASWBSS). Social Indicators Research, 120, 615–634, doi: 10.1007/s11205-014-0603-0.
Tomyn, A.J., & Cummins, R.A. (2011). The Subjective Well-Being of High-School Students: Validating the Personal Well-Being Index – School Children. Social Indicators Research, 101, 405–418, doi: 10.1007/s11205-010-9668-6.
Tucholska, K., & Gulla, B. (2007). Psychologia pozytywna – krytyczna analiza koncepcji. [Positive Psychology – Critical Concept Analysis]. Studia z Psychologii w KUL, 14, 107–131.
Van Petegem, K., Aelterman, A., Rosseel, Y., & Creemers, B. (2007). Student Perception as Moderator for Student Well-Being. Social Indicators Research, 83, 447–463, doi: 10.1007/s11205-006-9055-5.
WHO. Global School Health Initiative. Retrieved 10 July 2021 from: https://www.who.int/school_youth_health/gshi.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Educational Studies Review
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 5195
Number of citations: 0
