Survey of Bengaluru teens reveals strong link between family and happiness

Bengaluru: The World Happiness Report, released a few months ago, put India in one of the lowest spots, indicating that the citizens were not really happy. Taking a cue from this, Prayoga Institute of Education Research, a Bengaluru-based NGO, conducted a pilot study with 188 students from the city to understand how happy students were.

The happiness levels were calculated based on the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, and the results revealed that the students were moderately happy, as against the overall population that was said to be not so happy.

Surprisingly, the scores of both government and private school children were close, indicating that irrespective of the type of school, the children were generally happy.

All the students were between the age group of 13 and 14, and as against the general conception that children could be kept happier with materialistic things, the survey revealed that a stable family and emotional bonding were what kept the students happy, and academic performance had very little impact on the happiness levels.

“Through this pilot with a modest sample size, we wanted to capture what makes the students happy, and we found some heartening takeaways. The family relationships and emotional stability mattered the most vis-à-vis the material comforts. Keeping this as the baseline, we will extend the study for a more nuanced and wider research to know how happy the students are and the contributing factors,” said Karuna Simha, senior education researcher at Prayoga, who oversaw the research. Her team, comprising Subashree Pattanayak and Anitha B, worked on the project.

The researchers plan to extend the study to a larger base in the next phase.

The methodology for evaluation also included one open-ended question — “What makes you happy?”

The research showed that the key indicators for the happiness quotient were family relationships — students coming from stable families expressed that their happiness lies in their cosy homes.

Apart from this, leisurely activities, materialistic pleasures, connection with nature, achievement and appreciation, and positive emotional responses were spoken about as the key to happiness.

“Our findings pave the way for further qualitative studies to explore the complex and layered world of happiness. This can have a bearing on school policy and practice towards creating a nurturing ecosystem that ensures student wellbeing,” said Subashree Pattanayak, the primary researcher.