THE ACHIEVEMENT–WELL-BEING PARADOX: A STRUCTURAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL SYNTHESIS

Абстракт

Academic achievement and subjective well-being are frequently addressed as mutually reinforcing outcomes in educational settings, yet empirical evidence indicates a more complex relationship between them. Meta-analytic research shows that the statistical association between achievement and well-being is only weak to moderate, creating a structural paradox in educational systems wherein schools can successfully enhance both outcomes simultaneously even though the two constructs remain only loosely connected. Drawing upon Self-Determination Theory, the PERMA model, and Cognitive Load Theory, this paper explains this paradox by demonstrating that achievement and well-being are governed by distinct but partially overlapping systems: academic performance is primarily driven by cognitive-resource processes, whereas well-being is dictated by need-satisfaction and affective dynamics. Furthermore, age and student gender serve as structural moderators within the educational environment, where differences in developmental stages and socialized gender norms influence and subtly alter the strength of the relationship between performance and well-being across student cohorts. Within this framework, metacognitive instruction functions as an effective pedagogical bridge between the cognitive and affective domains, because embedding explicit metacognitive strategies simultaneously optimizes workingmemory efficiency and enhances students' sense of competence and self-efficacy. Ultimately, these findings indicate that educational policy, curriculum design, and teacher training must treat academic achievement and subjective well-being as partially independent developmental goals rather than as components of a single, linear causal chain.