Girls are happiest at school – for good reasons

Biology makes a difference why girls are happiest at school: Girls get more dopamine through social relationships. Boys get more dopamine through self-focused behaviour. Boys also have higher testosterone levels so they need more activity

2026-01-30

(Press-News.org) A new survey shows that there is a clear difference between girls and boys when it comes to well-being at school.

"Girls are happier than boys. This applies both in class and at school in general," says Professor Hermundur Sigmundsson at the Department of Psychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

The researchers questioned 1620 children aged 6 to 9 years in Norway. The average age was 7.5 years old, meaning these were youngest children in primary school.

The gender differences are clear.

Safety and well-being The researchers examined factors such as:

Do the students have friends at school? Do they feel safe at school, in class and at recess? The researchers find a clear correlation between well-being and feeling safe.

"We find a significant correlation between well-being and all the questions we asked. Enjoying school and feeling safe at school are strongly connected," says Sigmundsson.

Enjoying school and feeling safe at school are strongly connected.

The correlation is strongest between the question of whether you are safe in school and safe during recess.

The lowest correlation is between whether you have friends to be with at school and how much you like your class.

Well-being and safety were measured by the researchers on a new scale that they developed themselves. They call the scale "Well-being and perceived safety in school scale".

School suits girls better "It can be said that school is better suited for girls. This may have biological causes, among other things," says Sigmundsson.

Dopamine is a hormone that is somewhat inaccurately called the "happiness hormone". It is secreted by the body when we feel good.

"We know that girls get more dopamine activity through social relationships, being together. Boys get more dopamine through self-centred behaviour. Boys also have higher testosterone levels so they have more need for activity. Long school days, sitting still, does not suit boys," he said.

Change really good for everyone In a previous article, Hermundur described a project in Iceland where the researchers included extra physical activity in addition to a passion project to improve well-being in the classroom.

"My advice is more physical activity and passion class every day in school," says Sigmundsson.

That will increase the well-being of all students, he says.

Have different perceptions of their strengths There are also gender differences in how much the students like subjects and how well they think they perform.

Reading and science: Girls generally score higher than boys, both in how much they like the subjects and how well they think they perform.

Mathematics: There is no difference in how much boys and girls like the subject. But boys think they are best.

Physical education: Boys like the subject best, but there is no difference in how well girls and boys think they perform.

Students who like reading and those who like physical education otherwise seem to be completely different groups of children.

"We only find a weak correlation between feeling good about reading and physical education," Sigmundsson said.

We found a strong connection between liking subjects and doing well.

Students often become good at the subjects they like In addition, the researchers talked to the children about how much they liked the subjects and compared the answer to how the students actually performed in these subjects. The researchers had a questionnaire for this, while the school conducted the survey.

"Here we found a strong connection between liking subjects and doing well. This was true for in reading, maths, science and physical education," says Sigmundsson.

This was not about how they feel they are doing, but how good their results were.

Reference: Sigmundsson, H., Litlabø, V. R., Matos, M., & Haga, M. (2025). Robust children: exploring engagement with academic subjects, well-being and psychological safety in schoolchildren aged 6–9 years in Norway. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2025.2586675

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