Book contents
- School Adjustment
- School Adjustment
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 School Adjustment
- Chapter 2 What Does the Term “School” Stand For?
- Chapter 3 Flourish …? … In School …?!
- Chapter 4 Definition of School Adjustment
- Chapter 5 Early Screening for School Readiness
- Chapter 6 Elementary School Adjustment
- Chapter 7 Adjustment to Middle School
- Chapter 8 Adjustment to High School
- Chapter 9 How Should School Adjustment Be Measured?
- Chapter 10 Expressions of School Maladjustment
- Index
- References
Chapter 3 - Flourish …? … In School …?!
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2025
Book contents
- School Adjustment
- School Adjustment
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Chapter 1 School Adjustment
- Chapter 2 What Does the Term “School” Stand For?
- Chapter 3 Flourish …? … In School …?!
- Chapter 4 Definition of School Adjustment
- Chapter 5 Early Screening for School Readiness
- Chapter 6 Elementary School Adjustment
- Chapter 7 Adjustment to Middle School
- Chapter 8 Adjustment to High School
- Chapter 9 How Should School Adjustment Be Measured?
- Chapter 10 Expressions of School Maladjustment
- Index
- References
Summary
Many, especially school students themselves, would wonder what the connection is between school attendance and personal flourishing. This chapter advocates that students’ flourishing is a major goal of any educational system around the globe, and that the importance of flourishing is rooted more in its psychological – character-wise – aspects and not only in its intellectual aspects. There are many definitions of being in a state of flourishing (e.g., self-confidence, mental and emotional well-being, positive emotions, positive social behavior, cognitive and academic development, curiosity, a sense of meaning and purpose, etc.). The primary claim of this book is that school adjustment is a springboard to personal flourishing and a satisfying life as an adult. Two crucial issues emerge: (a) to what extent school settings enable it and (b) whether teachers’ training programs (e.g., in higher education) devote time, resources, and opportunities to training candidate teachers in supporting school students’ flourishing
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- School AdjustmentWhy Some Students Fade and Others Flourish, pp. 36 - 58Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
APA (2023). Resilience. Dictionary of Psychology. www.apa.org/topics/resilience. Retrieved October 2023.Google Scholar
Ayed, N., Toner, S., & Priebe, S. (2019). Conceptualizing resilience in adult mental health literature: A systematic review and narrative synthesis. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice, 92(3), 299–341. https://doi.org/10.1111/papt.12185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrable, A., & Arvanitis, A. (2019). Flourishing in the forest: Looking at Forest School through a self-determination theory lens. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education 22, 39–55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42322-018-0018-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bethell, C. D., Gombojav, N., & Whitaker, R. C. (2019). Family resilience and connection promote flourishing among US children, even amid adversity. Health Affairs, 38(5), 729–737. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05425.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brighouse, H. (2005). Channel One, the Anti-Commercial Principle, and the Discontinuous Ethos. Educational Policy, 19(3), 528–549. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904805276145CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchanan, C. M., & McDougall, P. (2021). Predicting psychosocial maladjustment in emerging adulthood from high school experiences of peer victimization. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(3–4), NP1810–NP1832. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518756115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butler, A., Patte, K. A., Ferro, M. A., & Leatherdale, S. T. (2019). Interrelationships among depression, anxiety, flourishing, and cannabis use in youth. Addictive Behaviors, 89, 206–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.10.007.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Damon, W. (2008). The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life. Free Press.Google Scholar
Deci, E. L., Cascio, W. F., & Krusell, J. (1975). Cognitive evaluation theory and some comments on the Calder and Staw critique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31(1), 81–85. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). The general causality orientations scale: Self-determination in personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 19(2), 109–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(85)90023-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). Self-determination theory. In Lange, P. A. Van, Higgins, E. T., & Kruglanski, A. W. (Eds.), Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology, Vol. 1 (pp. 416–436). Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donney, J. F., Ghandour, R. M., Kogan, M. D., & Lewin, A. (2022). Family-centered care and flourishing in early childhood. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 63(5), 743–750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2022.06.015.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fredrickson, B. L., & Losada, M. F. (2005). Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist, 60(7), 678–686. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.60.7.678CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grant, C. A. (2012). Cultivating flourishing lives: A robust social justice vision of education. American Educational Research Journal, 49(5), 910–934. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831212447977.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, L. S. (1997). Integrative Life Planning (ILP): A Holistic Theory for Career Counseling with Adults. Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Hillmann, J., & Guenther, E. (2021). Organizational resilience: A valuable construct for management research? International Journal of Management Reviews, 23(1), 7–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijmr.12239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huta, V. (2013). Eudaimonia. in Boniwell, I., David, S. A., & Ayers, A. C. (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Happiness (pp. 201–213). https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199557257.013.0015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Israelashvili, M., & Mozes, S. (2022). Those who we expect to be “self-made adults.” In Mozes, S. & Israelashvili, M. (Eds.), Youth Without Family to Lean On: Global Challenges and Local Interventions (pp. 3–15). Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keyes, C. L. M. (2002). The mental health continuum: From languishing to flourishing in life. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 43(2), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.2307/3090197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kristjánsson, K. (2017). Recent work on flourishing as the aim of education: A critical review. British Journal of Educational Studies, 65(1), 87–107. doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2016.1182115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristjánsson, K. (2020). Flourishing as the Aim of Education. A Neo-Aristotelian View. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Learning First Alliance (2018). The Elements of Success: 10 Million Speak about a School That Work. www.learningfirst.org//wp-content/uploads/2021/12/TheElementsofSuccessExecutiveSummary.pdf.Google Scholar
Linares, D. E., Kandasamy, V., & Vladutiu, C. J. (2022). Lifecourse factors associated with flourishing among US children aged 1–5 years. Child: Care, Health and Development, 48(2), 298–310. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12930.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lippman, L., Anderson, K., & McIntosh, H. (2009). Positive Indicators of Child Well-being: A Conceptual Framework, Measures and Methodological Issues. UNICEF Innocenti Research Center.Google Scholar
Mahoney, J. L., & Vest, A. E. (2012). The over‐scheduling hypothesis revisited: Intensity of organized activity participation during adolescence and young adult outcomes. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 22(3), 409–418. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2012.00808.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, B. & Simmons, L. (2021). A ‘PERMA’ response to the pandemic: An online positive education program to promote wellbeing in university students. Frontiers in Education, 6, 642632. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.642632.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muenks, K., Wigfield, A., Yang, J. S., & O’Neal, C. R. (2017). How true is grit? Assessing its relations to high school and college students’ personality characteristics, self-regulation, engagement, and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(5), 599–620. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, T. (1972). Aristotle on eudaimonia. Phronesis, 17(3), 252–259. www.jstor.org/stable/4181892.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narvaez, D., Gettler, L., Braungart-Rieker, J., Miller, L., & Harris, P. (2016). The flourishing of young children: Evolutionary baselines. In Narvaez, D., Braungart-Rieker, J., Miller, L., Gettler, L., & Harris, P. (Eds.), Contexts for Young Child Flourishing: Evolution, Family and Society. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National School Boards Association (2018). Elements of Successful Schools. www.nsba.org/ASBJ/Past-Issues/april/elements-successful-schools.Google Scholar
Patston, T. J., Kaufman, J. C., Cropley, A. J., & Marrone, R. (2021). What is creativity in education? A qualitative study of international curricula. Journal of Advanced Academics, 32(2), 207–230. https://doiorg.jproxy.nuim.ie/10.1177/1932202X20978356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purkey, S. C., & Smith, M. S. (1983). Effective schools: A review. The Elementary School Journal, 83(4), 427–452. https://doi.org/10.1086/461325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rakers, F., Rupprecht, S., Dreiling, M., Bergmeier, C., Witte, O. W., & Schwab, M. (2020). Transfer of maternal psychosocial stress to the fetus. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 117, 185–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.019.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redford, J., Battle, D., & Bielick, S. (2016). Homeschooling in the United States: 2012. NCES 2016-096. National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2016096.Google Scholar
Reschly, A. L., Huebner, E. S., Appleton, J. J., & Antaramian, S. (2008). Engagement as flourishing: The contribution of positive emotions and coping to adolescents’ engagement at school and with learning. Psychology in the Schools, 45(5), 419–431. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-Determination Theory: Basic Psychological Needs in Motivation, Development, and Wellness. Guilford Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68,CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seligman, M. (2010). Flourish: Positive psychology and positive interventions. The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, 31(4), 1–56.Google Scholar
Seligman, M., Ernst, R., Gillham, J., Reivich, K., & Linkin, M. (2009). Positive education: Positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, 35(3), 293–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054980902934563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vailes, F. (2022). The Flourishing Student: A practical guide to promote mental fitness, wellbeing and resilience in Higher Education. Practical Inspiration Publishing.Google Scholar
Valiente, C., Spinrad, T. L., Ray, B. D., Eisenberg, N., & Ruof, A. (2022). Homeschooling: What do we know and what do we need to learn? Child Development Perspectives, 16(1), 48–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vaughn, M. G., Maynard, B. R., Salas-Wright, C. P., Perron, B. E., & Abdon, A. (2013). Prevalence and correlates of truancy in the US: Results from a national sample. Journal of Adolescents, 36(4), 767–776. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.03.015.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, L. (2023). iTHRIVE: An International Student’s Guide to Thriving in the US. Liberate the Block. Collective Books.Google Scholar
Waters, L. (2021). Positive education pedagogy: Shifting teacher mindsets, practice, and language to make wellbeing visible in classrooms. In Kern, M. L. & Wehmeyer, M. L. (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Positive Education (pp. 137–164). Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, Marilyn S. (2016). The elementary classroom: A context for supporting children’s flourishing. In Narvaez, D. Braungart-Rieker, J. M., Miller-Graff, L. E., Gettler, L. T., & Hastings, P. D. (Eds.), Contexts for Young Child Flourishing: Evolution, Family, and Society (pp. 312–330). Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitaker, R. C., Dearth-Wesley, T., Herman, A. N., et al. (2022). Family connection and flourishing among adolescents in 26 countries. Pediatrics, 149(6), e2021055263. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-055263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams-Siegfredsen, J. (2017). Understanding the Danish Forest School Approach: Early Years Education in Practice. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Accessibility standard: Inaccessible, or known limited accessibility
The PDF of this book is known to have missing or limited accessibility features.
We may be reviewing its accessibility for future improvement, but final compliance is
not yet assured and may be subject to legal exceptions. If you have any questions,
please contact
accessibility@cambridge.org.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Full alternative textual descriptions
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
You get more than just short alt text: you have comprehensive text equivalents, transcripts, captions, or audio descriptions for substantial non‐text content, which is especially helpful for complex visuals or multimedia.
Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Structural and Technical Features
ARIA roles provided
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.
You gain clarity from ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) roles and attributes, as they help assistive technologies interpret how each part of the content functions.