The Mediating Role of Academic Goal Orientations in the Relationship Between Empathy and Subjective Happiness in Adolescent Students

The subjective wellbeing of students is a key aspect of their personal and academic development, especially during adolescence, a period in which numerous variables that shape personality and academic performance converge. This study aims to analyse the relationship between empathy and subjective happiness and the possible mediating role of goal orientations (achievement and ego) in secondary school students. The study comprised 1,664 participants from eight secondary schools. The instruments used were the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), the Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ), and the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), validated and adapted for the teenage population. The results revealed differences by gender in task orientation and a significant correlation between empathy, task orientation and subjective happiness, as well as the positive mediating role of task orientation between empathy and subjective happiness, in line with adaptive behaviours; ego orientation was, in contrast, negatively correlated with empathy and subjective happiness. Academic goal orientation (task and ego) in teenage students plays a central role in the promotion of adaptive behaviours, empathy and subjective wellbeing, which are key factors in their personal and academic development.