Competitive and non-competitive school climate and students’ well-being

Background

For decades, a competitive school climate was considered to be an unhealthy factor resulting in an increased level of stress and anxiety while a supportive and cooperative educational environment was associated with positive outcomes such as higher levels of students’ well-being and better interpersonal relationships.

Objectives

The present study investigated the relationship between perceived school climate, high-school students’ competitive attitudes, psychological protective factors, and psychological and somatic well-being.

Sample

Participants were 407 high-school students attending high schools with highly competitive and non-competitive educational programs.

Methods

Students’ perception of the competitive climate of the school, their competitive orientation, psychological and somatic well-being (anxiety, perceived stress, somatic health, school burnout), and their psychological protective factors (positivity self-efficacy resilience) were measured.

Results

Perception of the school's competitive climate corresponded to the respective school type. No significant difference was found in perceived stress and somatic health indicators, but self-developmental competitive orientation, anxiety, and school burnout were significantly higher in the competitive schools. The regression analysis indicated that psychological protective factors such as resilience, self-efficacy, and positivity have a strong positive, while Anxiety-driven Competition Avoidance has moderately strong negative effects on students' psychological and somatic well-being irrespective of the competitive or non-competitive climate of the school environment. however contrary to previous assumptions competition-oriented school climate has only a weak direct negative effect.

Conclusion

It is not the explicit and perceived competition/non-competition-oriented educational climate that has a decisive influence on students' well-being, but the nature of the students’ personal orientation towards competition, and their psychological protection.