Deborah Elin Siebecke

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Feeling well, doing well?

In Sweden and beyond, there are growing concerns about educational inequity. Research on academic resilience yields hope for a more equitable future as it shows that some students and schools do well academically despite socioeconomic disadvantages. At the same time, increasing attention has been paid to student well-being, raising the question at the heart of this dissertation: Do students who feel well also do well academically, particularly under adverse conditions? The main objective of this work is to investigate the relationship between well-being and academic resilience in Sweden. By examining how the material, social, and psychological dimensions of well-being are associated with academic achievement and resilience at both the individual and school level, the dissertation aims to deepen the understanding of factors that foster positive adaptation. The dissertation consists of three articles, each focusing on a separate dimension of student well-being. Article 1 examines academically resilient schools in Sweden and explores whether school-level aspects of material well-being can mitigate the effects of students’ socioeconomic background. Results indicate a decrease in resilient schools over time, as well as significant differences in material well-being between socioeconomically disadvantaged and advantaged schools. However, school-level indicators of material well-being do not sufficiently explain the occurrence of resilient schools. Article 2 focuses on the social dimension of well-being and its relationship with academic achievement and resilience. The results identify aspects of social well-being, such as teacher support and exposure to bullying, as significant predictors of achievement and resilience. Article 3 explores the role of psychological well-being in academic achievement and whether the relationship differs across resilient and nonresilient students. The study finds complex patterns of positive, negative, and nonlinear relationships, with noteworthy differences between resilient and other students. Taken together, the dissertation highlights a complex relationship that varies across dimensions of well-being and student groups, thereby contributing to a more nuanced understanding of how well-being may function as a protective factor for academic resilience while also underscoring the conceptual distinctness of the two constructs.