Concerned about student mental health? How wellness is related to academic achievement
Retrieved on:
Monday, January 8, 2024
Supporting student mental health is important because students of all ages can experience stressors that negatively affect their well-being and sometimes lead to mental health diagnoses.
Key Points:
- Supporting student mental health is important because students of all ages can experience stressors that negatively affect their well-being and sometimes lead to mental health diagnoses.
- However, some have suggested we can either support academic success or mental health — and that mental health is more important than academic achievement.
Well-being in education
- Education policymakers, schools and educators must attend to student well-being holistically rather than targeting one area at the expense of other areas.
- A great deal of research shows that early academic performance predicts mental health and well-being.
Recent reports from both Ontario and Saskatchewan human rights commissions highlighted the important role of strong reading instruction for student well-being, confidence and academic engagement.
Read more:
Reading disabilities are a human rights issue — Saskatchewan joins calls to address barriers
Stronger reading abilities, positive outcomes
- In the example of reading and mental health, gaining reading skills increases positive student outcomes.
- These positive outcomes are related to reading skill development, an important early indicator of academic success.
Poorer reading skills, worse outcomes
- They also have poorer self-concept and self control, difficulty with relationships, shame, anxiety, depression, suicidality and delinquency.
- Students who drop out of school are more likely to be poor readers, and poor readers are more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system.
Students with dyslexia
- The relationship between dyslexia and poor well-being and mental health further reveals the interaction between academic success and mental health.
- Students with dyslexia, which is characterized by difficulties gaining reading skills, have more difficulty making friends, and having friends is an integral part of mental health.
Equity, reading instruction and well-being
- Further, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are at greater risk both of not gaining adequate reading skills and of worse mental-health outcomes.
- Language and literacy researchers Joan F. Beswick and Elizabeth A. Sloat contend that adequate access to strong reading instruction is a social justice issue.
- Their research, and other findings, document how students from poorer neighbourhoods are less likely to receive adequate reading instruction.
A two-way relationship
- It is important to note, nevertheless, that the relationship between academic achievement and mental health is bidirectional.
- The relationship between academic success and mental health is complex and likely interactive with both poor achievement and excessive competition for high marks contributing to poor mental health.
Unhealthy academic competition
- Strong academic performance supports mental health and well-being, but unhealthy levels of academic competition negatively impact mental health and well-being.
- Reining in this unhealthy focus on intense academic competition is important.
Need to support both
- If we want to support student well-being and mental health, we need to support mental health directly by developing healthy school climates, teaching social emotional learning, and providing psychological services in schools.
- We don’t have to choose: we can and should support students’ academic success and mental health.
Gabrielle Wilcox is affiliated with Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta and the Learning Disabilities & ADHD Network Calgary Region.