Losing time for oneself? Tutoring, organised activities, and self-directed leisure as predictors of psychological well-being and academic achievement in Russian adolescents

Adolescents’ leisure is increasingly compressed by tutoring and organized classes, raising concerns about time for self-directed recovery and agency. This study examines how structured and unstructured time relate to psychological well-being and academic achievement, and whether well-being helps explain time-achievement links. Using a 2024 school-based survey of 2,944 Russian students in grades 5–8, we measured psychological well-being with the PWB-C and captured time use as weekly hours in tutoring/organized extracurricular activities (structured time) and daily hours in self-directed activities (unstructured time). Structural equation models tested direct and indirect associations between time use, well-being, and grade-point average, adjusting for gender, family socio-economic status, and place of residence. Structured time aligned with higher grades but was not linked to overall well-being. Unstructured time, by contrast, was associated with higher well-being and higher grades, with well-being accounting for part of this relationship. Domain-level results indicated positive links between unstructured time and autonomy, personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations, and environmental mastery, while self-acceptance showed no clear association. Structured time was largely unrelated to well-being domains, and could coincide with lower environmental mastery. Overall, the findings underline the mental-health value of safeguarding unstructured, self-directed leisure within achievement-oriented adolescent schedules.