A cross‐contextual model of student well‐being ( S‐WELL‐B ): Having, loving, doing, and being

BACKGROUND: Student well-being has become an important focus in educational research, yet the field remains conceptually and methodologically heterogeneous. Existing approaches also differ in contextual scope: school well-being models focus primarily on educational settings, whereas broader models of human well-being address functioning and experience across life contexts. AIMS: This article proposes the Cross-Contextual Model of Student Well-Being (S-WELL-B), a multidimensional and cross-contextual framework for conceptualizing student well-being across school and non-school life contexts. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: S-WELL-B is primarily informed by Martela's theory of human well-being and Konu and Rimpelä's school well-being model, while drawing on welfare, belongingness, social support, social cognitive, self-determination and eudaimonic well-being traditions. It comprises four interrelated domains: Having (access to sufficient resources), Loving (connectedness and relational support), Doing (competence and agency) and Being (psychological balance, self-worth and meaning). Hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives are treated as complementary, with eudaimonic aspects strengthened particularly within Being and Doing. KEY PROPOSITIONS: S-WELL-B conceptualizes student well-being as comprising four interrelated and constitutive domains: Having, Loving, Doing and Being. These domains extend across school and non-school life contexts, providing a common framework for conceptualizing student well-being across different areas of students' lives. The four domains are complementary and interrelated, without a predetermined causal hierarchy among them. CONCLUSION: S-WELL-B provides a theoretically grounded and empirically testable framework for clarifying the structure of student well-being and for guiding future operationalization, validation and developmental research.

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Publication Details

Journal
British Journal of Educational Psychology
Published
2026-11-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.70134
Primary Topic
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

A cross‐contextual model of student well‐being ( S‐WELL‐B ): Having, loving, doing, and being

Frances Hoferichter
British Journal of Educational Psychology
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
article

A cross‐contextual model of student well‐being ( S‐WELL‐B ): Having, loving, doing, and being

Frances Hoferichter
article en

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Student well-being has become an important focus in educational research, yet the field remains conceptually and methodologically heterogeneous. Existing approaches also differ in contextual scope: school well-being models focus primarily on educational settings, whereas broader models of human well-being address functioning and experience across life contexts. AIMS: This article proposes the Cross-Contextual Model of Student Well-Being (S-WELL-B), a multidimensional and cross-contextual framework for conceptualizing student well-being across school and non-school life contexts. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: S-WELL-B is primarily informed by Martela's theory of human well-being and Konu and Rimpelä's school well-being model, while drawing on welfare, belongingness, social support, social cognitive, self-determination and eudaimonic well-being traditions. It comprises four interrelated domains: Having (access to sufficient resources), Loving (connectedness and relational support), Doing (competence and agency) and Being (psychological balance, self-worth and meaning). Hedonic and eudaimonic perspectives are treated as complementary, with eudaimonic aspects strengthened particularly within Being and Doing. KEY PROPOSITIONS: S-WELL-B conceptualizes student well-being as comprising four interrelated and constitutive domains: Having, Loving, Doing and Being. These domains extend across school and non-school life contexts, providing a common framework for conceptualizing student well-being across different areas of students' lives. The four domains are complementary and interrelated, without a predetermined causal hierarchy among them. CONCLUSION: S-WELL-B provides a theoretically grounded and empirically testable framework for clarifying the structure of student well-being and for guiding future operationalization, validation and developmental research.

British Journal of Educational Psychology
Universität Greifswald (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
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