School‑Well‑being Survey

Girls are happier than boys in elementary school, research from Norway has found.

The researchers did a survey of about 1,600 children aged 6 to 9 in Norway. They were asked how they felt about their well-being and safety at school, and if they had friends.

The children were also asked how well they felt they were doing at things like reading, maths, science and physical education. And they were asked how much they liked these subjects.

The results, which have been published in the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, showed that, in general, all the children felt safe at school.

Around the same number of boys and girls also reported they had friends at school. However, girls and younger children reported higher levels of well-being, and they said they liked their class more than boys and older students.

Researcher Hermunder Sigmundsson said girls may like school more because that boys need more physical activity, and don't enjoy long days sitting in a classroom.

Girls were also found to like reading and science more, and were more positive about how good they were at them.

Boys and girls liked maths equally, but boys tended to think they were better at it. With physical education, boys liked it more, but there was no difference between how good boys and girls thought they were at it.

The researchers also worked with the children's schools to see how good they themselves were at these subjects—and they found that liking a subject was a strong predictor of being good at it.