Objectives: Recent reports have pointed to low levels of happiness at school (The Good Childhood Report, 2017). Given that autonomy, competence and relatedness are key to experience higher wellbeing at school, we aimed to explore if happiness conceptualisations were linked to higher levels of those variables. Methods: A sample of children (9 to 11 year-olds; N=421; Mage=10.75; 53%females) and adolescents (12 to 14 yearolds; N=323; Mage=13.37; 48%females) were asked to define what made them happy at the school and reported their levels of autonomy, competence and relatedness (Tian, Han, & Huebner, 2014). Results: Thirteen themes of happiness emerged. For children, we found a positive relationship between happiness as positive feelings and higher scores in competence while the conceptualization of non-violence was negatively related to higher scores of relatedness and competence. For adolescents, the conceptualizations of positive feelings, good grades, friends, moral actions and self-efficacy were positively related to higher scores of autonomy, relatedness, and competence. The conceptualization of positive relationships with teachers was positively related to higher scores of relatedness and competence. Finally, the conceptualization of purpose was positively related to higher scores of relatedness. Conclusions: These results showed the importance that adolescents' relatedness plays in the school context, as it closely related to several conceptualisations of happiness. We elaborate on the developmental differences in conceptualising happiness and we discuss on the practical implications of our findings.

Conceptualisations of happiness at school and its link with competence, autonomy, and relatedness / Cattini, Mara; Cirimele, Flavia; Kvapilovà, Jana; Portino, Luigi; Zuffiano', Antonio; Lopez-Perez, Belen. - (2018). (Intervento presentato al convegno Developmental psychology section annual conference 2018 tenutosi a Liverpool; United Kingdom).

Conceptualisations of happiness at school and its link with competence, autonomy, and relatedness

Flavia Cirimele;Jana Kvapilova;Luigi Portino;Antonio Zuffiano;
2018

Abstract

Objectives: Recent reports have pointed to low levels of happiness at school (The Good Childhood Report, 2017). Given that autonomy, competence and relatedness are key to experience higher wellbeing at school, we aimed to explore if happiness conceptualisations were linked to higher levels of those variables. Methods: A sample of children (9 to 11 year-olds; N=421; Mage=10.75; 53%females) and adolescents (12 to 14 yearolds; N=323; Mage=13.37; 48%females) were asked to define what made them happy at the school and reported their levels of autonomy, competence and relatedness (Tian, Han, & Huebner, 2014). Results: Thirteen themes of happiness emerged. For children, we found a positive relationship between happiness as positive feelings and higher scores in competence while the conceptualization of non-violence was negatively related to higher scores of relatedness and competence. For adolescents, the conceptualizations of positive feelings, good grades, friends, moral actions and self-efficacy were positively related to higher scores of autonomy, relatedness, and competence. The conceptualization of positive relationships with teachers was positively related to higher scores of relatedness and competence. Finally, the conceptualization of purpose was positively related to higher scores of relatedness. Conclusions: These results showed the importance that adolescents' relatedness plays in the school context, as it closely related to several conceptualisations of happiness. We elaborate on the developmental differences in conceptualising happiness and we discuss on the practical implications of our findings.
2018
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/1237971
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