The Impact of Academic Achievement on Korean Children's Happiness through Interpersonal Relationships

Backgrounds

Academic achievement, in general, is found to be positively associated with children’s happiness. In international comparative studies, however, South Korean children are one of the most academically successful but the least happy children in the world. In Korea, good school grades themselves do not seem to make children happier. Thus, we seek to examine the pathways underlying the association between academic achievement and happiness among Korean children by testing the mediating effects of interpersonal relationships. Also, we aim to examine if there is an age difference in relationships among variables.

Methods

Data and sample: The 8 and 10 year-old (grade 3 and 5) subsample (N=4,730) of the 2013 South Korean data of the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeB) is utilized in this study.

Measurement: Children’s happiness is measured using a single-item Overall Life Satisfaction (OLS). Academic achievement is measured by self-reported achievement in Korean and mathematics as well as overall achievement. Six items were used to measure three types of social relationships (i.e., relationships with parents, teachers, and peers). Children were asked to rate the level of agreement for each item on a five-point scale.

Analysis: Research model was examined with Structural Equation Modeling. Multiple group analysis was employed to understand the differential relationships of key variables by age groups. Significance of indirect effects was tested using bootstrapping method.

Results

First, the model fit indices suggest a good model fit (χ²=248.317 (df=78, p<.05), RMSEA=.028 (.025-.032), CFI=.990). And the measurement equivalence (⊿χ²=6.087 (df=5, p=.298) shows the appropriateness of data for multiple group analysis.

Based on the structural model analysis, the direct effects of academic achievements on OLS are not statistically significant in both age groups (β=.014 for age 8, β=.027 for age 10). But academic achievement is significantly associated with children’s relationships with parents, teachers and peers in both age groups (β= .246 ~ .312). These social relationships, with the exception of teacher-child relationship for 8-year-olds (β=.013, p>.05), are significantly associated with children’s OLS (β= .158 ~ .354). Results from multiple group analysis indicate that the coefficients linking teacher-child relationship and OLS differ between the two age groups (critical ratio for difference=4.416). Bootstrapping results indicates that the total and indirect effects of academic achievement on OLS are statistically significant for both age groups.

Conclusions and Implications

The findings suggest that Korean children with lower academic achievement are less happy, not directly due to the academic achievement themselves, but through their poorer relationships with parents, teachers, and peers. Also, the findings imply that the impact of academic achievement through teacher-child relationships on happiness may become stronger as children get older. These findings seem to reflect extremely competitive atmosphere of Korean education, where children with higher grades are appreciated and better treated by others. In this context, it may be hard for many children to feel happy. Children should be treated fairly and have enough chance to make good relationships with important others regardless of their school marks.