Journal of the American Academy of Child

Running head: POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: WELLBEING IN SCHOOL SETTINGS
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: WELLBEING IN SCHOOL SETTINGS
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POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: WELLBEING IN SCHOOL SETTINGS1
Introduction
A positive state of psychological wellbeing has been associated with improved quality of
life, enhanced longevity and positive health outcomes Exploration of the issue of psychological
wellbeing is particularly important in school settings and across school students since school
children spend a significant amount of time as well as their lifespans within the school
environment (Powell & Graham, 2017). The following sections of this paper will hence
elaborately and extensively discuss the issues of wellbeing faced by students.
Discussion
Chosen Setting, Population and Rationale: Schools and School Students
This paper aims to explore the context of psychological wellbeing across the school
setting associated population of school students. The key rationale underlying the selection of
this setting and population, is the rising prevalence of mental health disorders across school
adolescents and children, which has been reported to approximately 10 to 20% (Schulte-Körne,
2016). Additionally, the significant amount of time being spent in school as well as the
contributions of social, cognitive emotional development delivered by schools for a major
portion of childhood and adolescence periods in students are additional rationales underlying the
selection of this setting and population (Powel et al., 2018).
Indeed, it has been evidenced that children spent approximately 7000 to 8000 hours in the
school settings every day, which in turn, offer school settings the ideal opportunity for optimum
wellbeing promotion and timely detection of issues of emotional wellbeing and distress across
students. School years for students, thus establish learning opportunities for acquiring essential
behavioral, emotional and social cues which then strengthens the pattern of positive wellbeing

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: WELLBEING IN SCHOOL SETTINGS2
and effective functioning throughout adulthood (Roffey et al., 2016). Thus, the tremendous
potential held by schools in ensuring the development and maintenance of positive psychological
wellbeing, emotional outcomes and overall positive quality of life are the key rationales
underlying the need to explore issues of wellbeing in students faced by schools (Waters, 2017).
Wellbeing Considerations
Emotional Distress and Anxiety: The academic pressures of the school curriculum
coupled with the personal expectations of improvement and achievement often contribute to high
levels of negative outcomes of psychological wellbeing issues like emotional distress. Wellbeing
issues of emotional distress particularly arise in school students from the fear of being unable to
achieve commendable academic scores as per the expectations held by the school, the
performance demonstrated by peers as well as the expectations held by the students’ themselves
and their families (Rogers, Barblett & Robinson, 2016). The wellbeing issue of emotional
distress encountered by students in school is cause for concern since prolonged preoccupation in
the same has been evidenced to pave the way for increased prevalence of an additional issue of
wellbeing in school students, which is anxiety (Steinmayr et al., 2016). Anxiety in children has
been associated with the state of constant worry due to perceiving their surrounding
environments as threatening, frightening and challenging. If not controlled, anxiety in school
students has been linked to a range of physiological and psychological symptoms such as: high
levels of stress and fatigue, inability to adapt to novel or challenging learning environments and
feelings of extreme and uncontrollable fear during engagement in social activities and
interactions held in the school settings (Bore, Kelly & Nair, 2016).
Loss of Motivation and Depression: The inability to achieve the perceived standards of
achievement and academic proficiency has been associated with issues of wellbeing such as

POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: WELLBEING IN SCHOOL SETTINGS3
feelings of failure, sadness and a resultant loss of motivation and encouragement to engage in
other academic, social and personal activities. If not controlled, wellbeing issues such as feelings
of failure and decreased loss of motivation have been linked to the prevalence of depression,
another issue of wellbeing, faced by school students (Fiorilli et al., 2017). Depression has been
associated with a range of negative psychological and emotional outcomes in school students,
such as feelings of sadness, loss of optimism, feelings hopelessness and an inability to find
pleasure in activities which were once perceived as pleasurable. If not controlled, wellbeing
issues of depression and lack of motivation have been evidenced to pave the way for increased
risk of poor quality of life and subsequent issues of suicide ideation and substance abuse during
adulthood, which will be expounded upon in the succeeding sections (Boone & Brausch, 2016).
Bullying, Stigma, Poor Self-Esteem, Loneliness and Social Isolation: Bullying in
school environments is often a key contributor of the above identified wellbeing issues of
depression, distress and anxiety in school students. The prevalence of bullying faced by school
students have been evidenced to be higher across students belonging to ethically, culturally,
linguistically or racially diverse populations or minority groups due to stigmatized perceptions
and societal stereotypes, for example, discriminative opinions and prejudice held against Blacks
or Indigenous populations (Mischel & Kitsantas, 2020). Additionally, mental health issues have
been evidenced to often be unaddressed in school environments, largely due to stigma and
stereotypes held against individuals with mental health concerns and lack of sufficient funding in
schools for establishing relevant mental health or counseling centers within the premises. Such
issues thus contribute to wellbeing issues in the form of school students isolating themselves
from social interactions, activities and engagements, which in turn, paves the way for such
students to face wellbeing issues of loneliness in schools (Bradshaw et al., 2017). Additionally,