Effect of academic comparisons on the subjective well-being of Chinese secondary school students

• Yinghua Ye

  Zhejiang University

• Weihui Mei

  Zhejiang University

• Yaoyao Liu

  Zhejiang University

• Xiuming Li

  Youth and Children’s Center, Hangzhou

We studied the effect of academic comparisons on the subjective well-being (SWB) of 330 students from 3 Chinese secondary schools. The results showed that the SWB of Chinese secondary school students (a) is relatively low; (b) is affected primarily by 4 demographic factors, namely, grade, gender, academic achievements, and family financial background; and (c) is significantly affected by academic comparisons in that self-comparison, upward comparison, and parallel comparison have a positive impact on SWB, and downward comparison has a negative impact on SWB. Both parents and teachers should guide students to draw appropriate academic comparisons.

1. Yinghua Ye, Zhejiang University
   Interdisciplinary Research Center for Applied Psychology
2. Weihui Mei, Zhejiang University
   Department of Education
3. Yaoyao Liu, Zhejiang University
   College of Education

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