Download Academic well-being is a recently developed construct that has attracted scholars, especially in Italy. According to Tobia and Marzocchi, authors who have contributed extensively to the topic in recent years, it is defined as context-specific and based on a multidimensional and multi-perspective model that simultaneously encompasses psychological, cognitive, and social components, specifically structured around four axes: self-efficacy, causal attribution, and emotional and relational aspects. General well-being, academic well-being, and reading and writing skills are interdependent, and students with learning disabilities are particularly at risk of perceiving the school experience as challenging, thus compromising their well-being. Literature shows us that there is a viciously complex intertwining of cognitive, emotional, and motivational processes, such that these students, if not adequately supported, will experience repercussions in terms of self-esteem, sense of self-efficacy, and motivation, which in turn will make learning itself more difficult.
In general, the few studies currently addressing the construct of academic well-being in Italy have primarily investigated it in samples of primary school, middle school, and university students. It has emerged that students with learning disabilities perceive lower levels of well-being than their peers, while a shift in academic performance appears to be observed during high school, which is intertwined with the unique period of adolescence and the pandemic. The launch of the research project, driven by the desire to provide value and systematicity to observations emerging during the internship for this Master's program, involved defining the research question, divided into a main query and ancillary hypotheses according to the PICO model. The aim was to explore whether academic well-being in upper secondary school students is influenced by a diagnosis/certification of learning disabilities (LD), and to analyze certain aspects of their academic profile, verifying any correlations with purely clinical variables (DLD diagnosis).
A thorough bibliographic search of scientific databases yielded only one relevant article. Given the paucity of such material, an exploratory research project was therefore developed to assess, through a regional comparative study, the level of academic well-being among secondary school students. The study compared a group certified as having learning disabilities (DSA) according to current regulations with a group with typical development. The study used two tools: a short, ad hoc questionnaire designed to capture background variables, along with a multicomponent standardized test (QBS 8-13 in its version for children), gathering the students' perspectives in the form of self-reports and contributing to the data collection of the normative sample for future calibration of the test. Both tools were uploaded to an online platform with formal and informal dissemination throughout Piedmont. Of the 165 questionnaires deemed valid, approximately 18% declared having a DSA certification, leading to the definition of two subgroups for comparison (students with DSA and typically developing students). In the clinical sample, an inverse gender distribution is observed (males in a nearly 2:1 ratio), with a prevalence of dyslexia diagnoses and the co-occurrence of multiple DSA, but not comorbidity with other disorders; the predominant diagnostic period is primary school. Academic profile and academic performance among students with DSA are worse than their peers, with a significantly lower grade point average. The percentage of students with DSA requiring at least occasional external academic support is significantly higher than the control group. Compared to the comparison between the levels of Academic Well-being on the QBS test,
R, significant differences were found in the "Relationship with Teachers" subscale and the External Causal Attribution item "I do well on my schoolwork only when someone helps me": in both, the average score was higher in students with learning disabilities. The results of the comparison of levels of Academic Well-being are consistent with the theorization of the only relevant contribution by Lombardi et al.; it would therefore appear that students with learning disabilities in secondary school demonstrate a level of academic well-being similar to their peers. A particular strength for these students is a better relationship with teachers, contrary to expectations and despite the evidence that they attribute their successes to external help and their poorer academic performance and profile. The evidence that these students attribute their successes to external help supports the idea that they are more likely to ask for help, feeling the need for adequate support and acceptance. School failure, although a significant burden in the clinical sample, does not appear to predict future school distress. The prevalence among the clinical sample of the need for occasional afternoon study support is consistent with the attribution of their success to external help and the fact that they view school activities as mostly moderately demanding and very demanding, also raising questions regarding the development of effective study methods. Given the question of the reasons for this reversal of trends, both previous and subsequent, emerging in the literature, it is likely that the protective measures envisaged by Law No. 170/2010 will gradually be adopted by schools with greater ease and consistency. Furthermore, the importance attributed to the positive, reassuring, and supportive role of the relational context is emphasized, which appears to foster the experience of well-being at school by mediating the learning processes themselves and involving a series of other factors in a cascading and bidirectional manner. This study presents some strengths and just as many limitations, which future research could explore and address, given the multiple practical implications of the question in a field of research that still requires further exploration.