Understanding the Contribution of Well‐Being on Macau Students' Academic Achievement: Self‐Efficacy as an Explanatory Mechanism

ABSTRACT Despite the vital role of well‐being on academic achievement, doubts prevail as to what extent and how well‐being contributes to students' academic achievement. The present research therefore investigated the relation between well‐being and academic achievement using multidimensional measures, while considering self‐efficacy as a mediator. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted on Mplus 8.3 based on data from 3775 Macau 15‐year‐old students (49.3% girls and 50.7% boys) in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018. The results revealed differential patterns of associations between hedonic and eudaimonic well‐being components and academic achievement in reading, mathematics, and science. Specifically, life satisfaction was positively associated with science achievement, positive affect was positively associated with reading achievement, and negative affect was negatively associated with mathematics achievement. However, meaning in life was negatively associated with reading, mathematics, and science achievement. The indirect effects of life satisfaction, positive affect, and meaning in life on reading, mathematics, and science achievement via self‐efficacy were positive, whereas the indirect effect of negative affect was negative. This study enriches the existing understanding of the mechanism between well‐being and academic achievement with the mediator of self‐efficacy, which sheds new light onto the paradoxical relation between low well‐being and high academic achievement of Macau students.