Systematic Review of Adolescent Conceptions of Success: Implications for Wellbeing and Positive Education

Abstract

Identifying different conceptions of success and how these relate to wellbeing is an important area of research. These insights would be especially beneficial for young people who can be guided through school education to reflect on core values, life goals, and indices of success to promote aspirations that will be conducive to wellbeing. Through a systematic review of the empirical and grey literature, we identify and review 17 studies investigating secondary-school students’ (12–18 years) success conceptions and their association with various components of wellbeing. Results indicate that this area of research has received scant attention in the literature. Nevertheless, there is preliminary evidence to suggest that adolescents value intrinsic success such as self-actualisation, personal satisfaction, and connection and that particular patterns of success beliefs associated with personal development and goal striving relate positively to wellbeing. This is consistent with fulfilling the basic psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competency that are associated with internalised motivation and enhanced wellbeing. These insights can guide the content of education programmes focused on identifying life values and aspirations whilst concurrently fostering wellbeing. In addition, gender and developmental stage should be taken into consideration when developing success and wellbeing educational initiatives.