Assessing happiness in college students

Abstract

The present research was constructed with the aim to assess happiness within college
students. The research hypotheses were 1.) Students of "belief' faith will experience
higher levels of classic happiness than will students not of faith or of "activity" faith, 2.)
Students of "belief' faith will experience higher levels of life satisfaction and purpose in
life than will students not of faith or of "activity" faith. 3.) Students not of faith will
experience the highest levels of contemporary happiness, and 4.) Students not of faith
will have the least overall satisfaction with life and have the weakest grasp of a sense of
purpose in their lives. The study was conducted using a mixed-method approach utilizing
both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. For the quantitative portion, 3,400 email
surveys were distributed; 449 surveys were returned completed. The qualitative portion
consisted of 16 one-on-one interviews with participants. The participants for both
methods were volunteers from a public, mid-sized, four-year, predominantly white
institution. The quantitative results were not statistically significant as religious
participants and their frequency practicing their religion was not statistically significantly
different than those who were not of faith. The data analysis of Chi-square tests and
ANOVA tests affirm these findings.

Date of Award	2012
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	James Wallace (Supervisor)