The Back To School Reminder We All Need: Grades Don’t Equal Happiness
Livescience reports that researchers of the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development analyzed 32 years worth of data for 804 participants. They embarked on the various ambitious task of trying to determine what ensured “well-being in adulthood.” A nebulous undertaking, I’m sure. Craig Olsson from Deakin University in Australia and his colleagues reportedly looked at “social connectedness” and language development in childhood and then “social connectedness” and scholastic achievement in the teen years. Social connectedness was determined by teachers and parents rating the child’s confidence levels, how often the child was alone, and how well he or she was liked. The same element of the study was quantified again in adolescence by the kid’s participation in groups and attachments to peers and parents. Turns out, according to this research, that being stellar in school wasn’t necessarily a guarantee of well-being:
The researchers reported a strong “pathway” from child and adolescent social connectedness to adult well-being and happiness. Meanwhile, there was little evidence connecting early language development and adolescent academic achievement to adult well-being, which suggests social and academic pathways might not be closely related.
“If these pathways are separate, then positive social development across childhood and adolescence requires investments beyond development of the academic curriculum,” the authors concluded, according to Springer.
That isn’t to say that all solitary bookworms are ticking time bombs for adult disaster. But the findings do put a grades — a common assessment of a child’s adjustment — in their place.
(photo: Serhiy Kobyakov/ Shutterstock)