Exploring the Structure of Student Well-being Globally: A Network Analysis Across 79 Countries

Abstract Student well-being is a multidimensional construct, which has been studied using both hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives. Despite the extensive work on well-being, researchers have seldom explored its network structure as past studies have mostly focused on identifying the correlates of well-being or delving into mean-level differences. Furthermore, past studies have paid limited attention to gender differences in the structure of students’ well-being. This study employs a network analysis approach to understand the structure of students’ well-being across the globe and to explore potential gender differences. Participants were 612,004 15-year-old students from 79 countries. Network analysis was used to identify the most central components. Results revealed that life satisfaction, positive affect, and environmental mastery were the most central elements of student well-being, while negative affect was the most peripheral. We found both gender similarities and differences in the network structure of well-being. This study contributes to the existing literature by clarifying our understanding of the network structure of well-being, elucidating how the various components of well-being drawn from different theoretical perspectives are inter-related with each other and highlighting gender similarities and differences across a global sample.