Associations between psychosocial factors and happiness among school adolescents

Abstract

The concept of health contains aspects of social and mental well-being and not just the absence of disease. The concept of well-being is sometimes used interchangeably with the term happiness, although focus has been on other aspects as well. Here we explore associations between happiness and experience of stress at school, personal and social factors among 887 Norwegian school adolescents participating in a World Health Organization project on health-promoting schools. Happiness was measured by a one item question (ordered responses 1-4). The psychosocial factors were represented by an average score of 3-12 items. Odds ratios of feeling very/quite happy were calculated in multiple logistic regression analyses. An increasing degree of stress experience reduced the feeling of happiness significantly. Furthermore, increasing levels of general self-efficacy increased the odds of feeling happy, whereas the more specific measure of school self-efficacy showed no independent effect. Social support from teachers also enhanced happiness significantly. A less consistent pattern was found for support from peers, but the most happy pupils experienced significantly more support than pupils who reported being unhappy. No significant trend was found with decision control. We also explored associations between happiness and psychosomatic symptoms. Pupils feeling unhappy reported a particular symptom more often and they also had the highest mean number of reported symptoms. To evaluate whether these health indicators represent different dimensions of health, a comparison of strength of associations with common risk factors is made. Implications for health promotion practice are discussed.

Determining the Impact of Subjective Well-Being on Academic Achievement of Children in District Faisalabad

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Is Being “Smart and Well Behaved” a Recipe for Happiness in Western Australian Primary Schools?

“…Although there are limited studies that focus on primary students, Suldo, Riley and Shaffer (2006) point out in their review of academic correlates and life satisfaction for adolescents, that IQ, grade point averages and diagnosed learning disabilities were not strong indicators of life satisfaction, while care and support was a factor. Further, Natvig, Albrektsen and Qvarnstrom (2003) in their exploration of whether academic competence was associated with adolescent happiness, found no such evidence, rather their research pointed to social skills (as in the ability to cope with bullying, making friends and getting involved in school activities) as being strongly connected. Finally, Van Petegem, Aelterman, Rosseel and Creemers (2007) identified that student wellbeing is directly affected by interpersonal relationships that exist with teachers.…”

Adolescents' perceptions of the words “health” and “happy”

“…The terms well-being and happiness have been used interchangeably (Natvig et al, 2003;Veenhoven, 1991), yet happiness and satisfaction are two distinct spheres of well-being (Peíro, 2006). Studies examining adolescent perceptions of life satisfaction have connected it to five distinct domains: family, friends, school, self and the living environment (Natvig et al, 2003;Cicognani et al, 2008;Konu et al, 2002). Gender differences in self-rated well-being are found to be less obvious than with self-rated health (Currie et al, 2008).…”