<p>The well-being literature has identified three primary ways to pursue happiness, conceptualized as hedonic (e.g., seeking fun), eudaimonic (e.g., seeking growth), and extrinsic (e.g., seeking prestige) motives for daily activities. Prior studies have primarily examined how these distinct happiness motives contribute to individual well-being, but little is known about how they relate to adolescents’ academic distress during a crucial period of happiness-motives formation and escalating academic demands. Using a two-wave longitudinal design, this study investigates the associations between happiness motives and academic distress (indexed by test anxiety and school burnout complaints), with a particular focus on the mediating role of flourishing, among 744 high school students (Mean age = 15.59 ± 0.56 years). The cross-lagged panel model shows that eudaimonic (but not hedonic) motives predicted lower levels of school burnout, while extrinsic motives predicted higher levels of test anxiety and school burnout complaints, seven months later. Half-longitudinal mediation analyses reveal that eudaimonic motives predicted higher subsequent levels of flourishing, and flourishing predicted lower subsequent levels of test anxiety and school burnout complaints, suggesting an indirect effect via flourishing. However, there were no indirect effects of flourishing on the links between hedonic/extrinsic motives and academic distress. In view of the heightened academic pressures among contemporary adolescents, these findings suggest that eudaimonic motives may function as a drive to build a crucial psychological resource – flourishing, which may help alleviate academic distress, whereas extrinsic motives may amplify academic distress.</p>