Higher Levels Of Happiness Research Articles

Mental Health, Wellbeing and Technology Use Amongst UK Adolescents: An Exploration of <i>Understanding Society</i>: The UK Household Longitudinal Study

Background: Most research explores the impact of digital technology, specifically social networking sites, on mental health and wellbeing amongst adolescents. Findings suggest small effects with a possible link amongst girls. This investigates whether levels of mental health and wellbeing impact use of digital technology amongst adolescents. Methods: Data come from waves 1-9 of Understanding Society: The UK Household Longitudinal Study, a longitudinal panel study with a youth panel (10-15 year olds) where household members are interviewed annually. Young people were asked about time spent using social networking sites, and gaming on a console or computer. Measures of mental health and wellbeing were the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and a composite happiness measure. Random effects ordinal logistic models were used to test associations. Findings: Higher levels of happiness and lower levels of poor mental health were associated with lower levels of digital technology use. Slightly larger associations were observed amongst girls for social networking site use and amongst boys for console gaming. There were no gender differences in the association between levels of mental health and wellbeing and time spent playing computer games. Happiness with family was associated with social networking site use for girls while happiness with friends was associated for boys. Internalising behaviours showed associations across all types of digital technology with higher levels of internalising associated with increased time on digital technology. Interpretation: The findings of this study suggest that there is a relationship between existing mental ill health and increased use of digital technology for adolescents. There also appear to be certain aspects of these measures which may be important, particularly internalising behaviours. Future studies should explore the pathways of these relationships to identify characteristics of vulnerable young people and to inform policy and decisions of parents and young people in their use of digital technology. Funding Information: YK was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC ES/R008930/1); CB was supported by (ESRC RES-586-47-0001/RES-586-47-0002). Understanding Society is funded through the following ESRC grants: Understanding Society: The UK Longitudinal Household Study (RES-586-47-0001); Understanding Society, the UK Longitudinal Studies Centre (RES-586-47-0002). The ESRC provided funding for the collection of UKHLS data; however they were not involved in the study design, analysis, interpretation of the data or writing up of this paper. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: Parents or guardians provides consent for young people to participate. Young people are then asked for assent for a pen-and-paper questionnaire. The University of Essex Ethics Committee has approved all data collection on Understanding Society main study and innovation panel waves, including asking consent for all data linkages except to health records. Requesting consent for health record linkage was approved at Wave 1 by the National Research Ethics Service (NRES) Oxfordshire REC A (08/H0604/124), at BHPS Wave 18 by the NRES Royal Free Hospital & Medical School (08/H0720/60) and at Wave 4 by NRES Southampton REC A (11/SC/0274). Approval for the collection of biosocial data by trained nurses in Waves 2 and 3 of the main survey was obtained from the National Research Ethics Service (Understanding Society - UK Household Longitudinal Study: A Biosocial Component, Oxfordshire A REC, Reference: 10/H0604/2).

Predictors of happiness and satisfaction with life in individuals from the Brazilian general population who use social networks: a cross-sectional study.

This study aimed to identify possible conditions associated with the perception of happiness and satisfaction with life in a sample of the Brazilian population who use social networks. This was a cross-sectional study with participants recruited online in five regions of Brazil via Facebook and WhatsApp. Data were collected from October 2015 to October 2016. The instruments used were the Pemberton Happiness Index, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and a questionnaire regarding sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and issues potentially associated with the feeling of happiness. In total, 2,151 participants were included. A total of five variables exerted the greatest influence on higher levels of happiness and satisfaction with life in the multiple linear regression model, in the multiple logistic regression analysis, and in the decision tree model. Being satisfied with financial circumstances, having a positive self-evaluation of health, having frequent family gatherings, engaging in physical activity ≥ 3 times a week, and having no previous psychological/psychiatric diagnosis are variables that "seem" to positively influence Brazilians' perception of happiness and satisfaction with life. We identified some predictors of happiness and satisfaction with life, which were mainly related to the social activities and personal satisfaction of the participating individuals. Encouraging people to seek strategies for increasing levels of happiness and life satisfaction based on modifiable variables, such as those found, can be helpful in this context.

Does Happiness Boost the Impact of Intelligence on Economic Growth?

Previous studies have found that average cognitive ability at the national level, which has been called national intelligence and scaled as IQ, is an important determinant of economic growth at the cross-national level. The current study re-investigates the claim that being a happier society weakens the positive association between IQ and economic growth. It investigates whether there is a threshold effect of happiness on the relationship between national IQ and economic growth between 1960 and 2017. Controlling for endogeneity with instrumental variables (IVs), the results confirmed that the relationship between IQ and economic growth is weaker in countries with high levels of self-reported happiness. The diminishing returns of IQ for economic growth can be recognized above a threshold level of 6.25 on the zero-to-10 happiness scale. The suggested explanation is that higher levels of happiness tend to reduce the aspiration for higher productivity among the people, which reduces the impact of cognitive human capital on economic growth. Key Words: Intelligence; National IQ; Happiness; Economic growth; Threshold regression

Horizontal-resource models of happiness

“Happiness” is not even considered by many as a scientific term. Meanwhile, some practitioners are concerned with improving the quality of life and the objective reasons for people’s subjective satisfaction while others note the prevalence of problems related to “unhappiness”. Thus, in the best case, people turn to clergy, significant others, or psychotherapists to change either themselves or their lives for the better. However, theoretical interpretations of the phenomenon of happiness in many sciences that are based on the models of balance, the correspondence between the desired and the available, etc., use a fragmented and practically unstructured terminological apparatus. The goal of the study is to identify the conceptual models in all the diversity of interpretations and studies of happiness that allow uniting groups of researchers from different fields of knowledge, as well as to present the views of the authors of artworks on the mechanisms of experience and empathy with the processes of gaining and losing happiness. Methods: Comparative analysis of views on the phenomenon of happiness and the related states presented in works of art, spiritual and cultural life, and studies of the social and human sciences. The analyzed material allowed us to show the presence of a large number of models of interpretation of the state of happiness often associated with the assessment of resources available to the individual (horizontal-resource models of happiness). This distinguishes them from the vertical-level models that contrast the highest levels of happiness of special quality with the manifestation of different, lower-order states also referred to as happiness. It is important to note that in horizontal-resource interpretations, many models do not treat happiness simply as a significant share “of the total pie”. Resource-based approaches assess the available or absent potential (of varying nature), as well as the absence or presence of the possibility of approaching a subjectively meaningful state.

HAPPINESS AND ITS DETERMINANTS: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS AMONG LECTURERS IN AN INDONESIAN UNIVERSITY

The educational institution is sometimes indicated as a not attractive workplace, which could affect its employee happiness. This research aims to qualitatively identify the state of happiness and its determinants factors including its association with digital technology among lecturers. Digital technology is considered important in the educational area because it helps lecturers to effectively share the information, material, and managing the class. The research was conducted in ITB since it was a university with a technology base. Results indicate a high level of happiness among lectures, especially in pleasant and good life but not meaningful life. There are several determinant factors of happiness identified which are related with interpersonal and intrapersonal. Lectures reported positive and negative impacts of digital technology and happiness. In conclusion, lecturers perceived ITB as their source of happiness especially in providing freedom and opportunity to share knowledge and values.

BAHAGIA PERSPEKTIF SYED MUHAMMAD NAQUIB AL-ATTAS

In facing life and life, the problem that mankind always feels is the two choices between happiness and misery. A person who always thinks acts, and behaves positively can certainly achieve positive results and get a sense of happiness. However, not a few people behave and behave negatively expecting positive results and wish to achieve a sense of happiness. Instantaneous motivational trends like these are evidence that between reality and hope is often not linear. This text aims to explore the happy ideas of Naquib al-Attas's perspective. By using the analytical descriptive method, this study found several important conclusions. First, al-Attas divides the happy aspect into two types, namely the aspect of physical and spiritual happiness. Second, for al-Attas, the highest level of happiness is the level of someone who knows himself or makrifatullah. Third, this highest happiness according to al-Attas cannot possibly be achieved by people who always emphasize the material aspects of their life, without knowing themselves, as is the case in modern-secular Western societies.

Attentional patterns as emotion regulation strategies during the anticipation of repetitive emotional scenes: an eye-tracker study.

As difficulties in managing the anticipation of situations is one of the characteristics of emotional problems, the study of regulatory strategies during anticipatory period anticipation is important. In the present study, attentional patterns during the anticipation period were studied. The ability of those attentional patterns to regulate mood after the event's occurrence was analyzed. An experimental paradigm was designed in which participants repeatedly anticipated emotional information. Attentional patterns in response to emotionally expressive faces (happy and sad) were recorded with an eye tracker. The results showed that the valence of the expected outcomes did affect attentional preferences. Specifically, participants spent more time looking at sad faces when they anticipated a negative rather than a positive outcome. The opposite pattern was found for happy faces. With respect to the ability to regulate the emotions of these attention patterns, it was found that emotions experienced after a negatively anticipated event were independent of previous attention patterns, while happiness experienced after a previously anticipated positive event was found to be related to attentional patterns. Specifically, people who spent more time looking at happy faces during the anticipation of a positive outcome reported higher levels of happiness after the event. In conclusion, these results indicate that during the anticipation of emotional outcomes participants implement attentional strategies, although the emotions associated with experiencing those outcomes were independent of those attentional patterns in the negative anticipation, they were found to magnify positive emotions in positive anticipation.

Participating in sports and practicing a religion are related to levels of happiness

Abstract The objective of this study was to ascertain whether happiness varies depending on sports participation and religious practice. The sample comprised 2,378 participants aged between 18 and 92 years. All analysis were carried out by testing the interaction effects of the variables of sex and age on sports participation, religious practice, and happiness. We found a high average level of happiness (M = 7.299, range 0–10). However, people who do not participate in sports or practice a religion indicated a level of happiness (M = 6.979) that was statistically lower than that of the other groups: people who practice a religion but do not participate in sports (M = 7.135); people who participate in sports but do not practice a religion (M = 7.478); and people who both participate in sports and practice a religion (M = 7.717). We conclude that happiness is associated with sports participation and religious practice, although with small or very small effect sizes (all p< 0.050; η2 p between 0.008 and 0.020).

ICT Adoption, Individual Income and Psychological Health of Rural Farmers in China

This paper examines the joint effects of the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and individual income on farmers’ psychological health, measured by happiness, life satisfaction, stress and loneliness. We employ a two-stage residual inclusion approach combined with a conditional mixed process model to analyse data collected from 7065 rural households in China. The econometric strategy addresses the potential endogeneity issues of ICT adoption and individual income and captures the possible interdependence between the two variables. The empirical findings reveal that both ICT adoption and high individual income are significantly associated with higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction, but are significantly associated with lower levels of stress and loneliness. Further analysis reveals that there exists a positive interaction effect between farmers’ decision to adopt ICTs and their income.

Associations between sedentary behavior and happiness: An analysis of influential factors among middle-aged and older adults from six low- and middle-income countries

ObjectivesHigher levels of sedentary behavior (SB) may be associated with decreased happiness but there are no studies on this topic. Thus, we investigated this association, and its influential factors among middle-aged and older adults using nationally representative datasets from six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Study designCommunity-based cross-sectional data from the Global Ageing and Adult Health study were analyzed. SB was assessed with the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression and mediation analyses were performed. Main outcome measuresHappiness was assessed with a cross-culturally validated single-item question (5-point scale) with higher scores indicating higher levels of happiness. ResultsThe final sample included 34,129 adults aged 50 years or more (mean age = 62.4 ± SD 16 years; 51.9 % female). After adjusting for multiple confounders, increased time spent in SB (hours/day) was associated with lower happiness levels (OR = 0.96; 95 % CI = 0.94−0.98). Mobility limitations, cognitive complaints, pain/discomfort, sleep problems and disability explained the largest proportion of the association between SB and happiness. ConclusionsSB was linked with lower levels of happiness in middle-aged and older adults from LMICs, although a high level of between-country heterogeneity was observed. Longitudinal and interventional studies among older people in LMICs are warranted to assess directionality and the potential for reduction in SB to improve mental well-being in this population.

Young Children Voices of Happiness: Learning from Urban Area in Indonesia

This qualitative study describes happiness of preschool children in four Islamic kindergartens in the urban area of Jakarta, Indonesia. The participant involved 353 children, including 165 boys and 188 girls, within four to six years. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews and face-scale, with the content. The result showed that children have high levels of happiness, with the majority considering play as a source of positive affect, followed by school performance, material issues, friendship, and family. In contrast, most reported sources of negative affect in children’s daily lives referred to the following categories: material issues, none, family, illness or injury, and friendship. Further studies are needed to analyze the implication of children's happiness on parents, social workers, and teachers by focusing on play activity.

Association of Happiness and Life Satisfaction with Cancer Mortality in the United States: A Longitudinal Analysis

Background: Theimpact of happiness and life satisfaction on cancer mortality is not well studied. Using a longitudinal dataset, we examined the association between levels of happiness/life satisfaction and cancer mortality in the United States.
 Methods: We analyzed the 2001 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) prospectively linked to 2001-2014 mortality records in the National Death Index (NDI) (N=30,933). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to model survival time as a function of happiness, life satisfaction, and sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics.
 Results: In Cox models with 14 years of mortality follow-up, cancer mortality risk was 78% higher (hazard ratio [HR]=1.78; 95% CI=1.42,2.23) in adults with little or no happiness, controlling for age, and 53% higher (HR=1.53; 95% CI=1.19,1.97) in adults with little/no happiness, controlling for sociodemographic, behavioral and health characteristics, when compared with adults reporting happiness most or all of the time. Age-adjusted cancer mortality risk increased by 41% (HR=1.41; 95% CI=1.21,1.77) in adults who were very dissatisfied with their life. Cancer mortality did not vary by life satisfaction after adjusting for all covariates.
 Conclusions and Implications for Translation: Adults with lower happiness levels had significantly higher cancer mortality risks than those with higher happiness levels. Excess mortality was substantially accounted for by sociodemographic, behavioral, and health risk factors.
 Key words: • Happiness • Life satisfaction • Cancer • Mortality • Longitudinal • Social determinants
 
 Copyright © 2020 Lee and Singh. Published by Global Health and Education Projects, Inc. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in this journal, is properly cited.

Chinese Middle-Aged and Older Adults’ Internet Use and Happiness: The Mediating Roles of Loneliness and Social Engagement

Little research has examined the effects of internet use in promoting well-being among middle-aged and older people using large-scale samples in developing countries. Using a subsample of a national survey with 4,083 adults aged 50 years and above, we explored this topic in China. Internet users were found to be significantly younger, more educated, with a higher SES, and more likely to live in urban areas. Structural equation modeling showed that internet use was indirectly associated with higher levels of happiness, and this association was mediated by less loneliness and more volunteering. In the multi-group analysis, age, gender, and household registration (urban vs. rural) moderated path coefficients but did not impact the general pattern. This study suggests promising benefits of internet use for Chinese middle-aged and older adults. In addition, the digital divide between our urban and rural subsamples calls for interventions to promote internet use in rural areas.

Workplace Happiness and the Relationship to the Work Motivation among Primary School Teachers in Pasir Gudang District/ Kebahagiaan di Tempat Kerja dan Hubungannya terhadap Motivasi Kerja Guru Sekolah Rendah di Daerah Pasir Gudang

Happiness is an element capable of motivating the daily routine of individuals, creating self-awareness, creativity and creating harmonious social relationships. Happiness at work is the key to creating positive thinking in the workforce. However, the importance of happiness at work at school is still being a discussion in Malaysia. This study examines the relationship between happiness in the workplace and work motivation among primary school teachers in Pasir Gudang, Johor. This study involved 420 primary school teachers from 20 schools as a sample of the study. This study was conducted using a questionnaire, which identified the level of teachers' happiness and the motivation of teachers in the workplace. The results of Spearman analysis of correlation show high levels of happiness in the workplace and teachers' work motivation. This study supports previous studies showing a positive relationship between happiness in the workplace and teacher work motivation.

Moving more, ageing happy: findings from six low- and middle-income countries.

low levels of well-being (including happiness) in the older population are major global concern given rapid population ageing especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Physical activity may increase levels of happiness, but data on the older population are scarce, while there are no data from LMICs. we investigated the relationship between physical activity and happiness, and the influential factors in this association among older adults employing nationally representative datasets from six LMICs. community-based cross-sectional data from the Global Ageing and Adult Health study were analysed. Physical activity was assessed with the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Participants were grouped into those who do and do not meet physical activity recommendations. Happiness was assessed with a cross-culturally validated single-item question (range 0-4) with higher scores indicating higher levels of happiness. Multivariable ordinal logistic regression and mediation analyses were performed. the sample included 14,585 adults aged ≥65years (mean age = 72.6 ± SD 11.4years; 55% female). After adjusting for multiple confounders, meeting physical activity guidelines was positively associated with more happiness (fully adjusted model, odds ratio = 1.27; 95% confidence interval = 1.04-1.54). The physical activity-happiness association was largely explained by difficulties in mobility, cognitive impairment, disability and social cohesion, which explained ≥20% of the association. meeting recommended physical activity levels was positively linked with happiness in older adults from LMICs. Longitudinal and interventional studies among older people in LMICs are warranted to assess directionality and the potential for physical activity promotion to improve mental well-being in this population.

Religiosity and health among Chinese older adults: a meta-analytic review

AbstractThe ageing population has been rapidly growing over recent years. Theoretically, religion seemingly plays an important role in improving older people's health. This study examines whether believing in religion is related to better health conditions among Chinese older adults through a meta-analysis. Two researchers independently extracted the studies from a comprehensive database and grey literature search and evaluated their scientific quality. From the 3,777 potentially eligible papers, just 76 were selected. The pooled effect size detected no significant difference between Chinese religious and non-religious older adults’ overall health and wellbeing. Dividing the outcomes into different categories, religious older adults reported both a higher level of anxiety (Hedge'sg= −0.392, 95% confidence interval (CI) = −0.494, −0.290;p= 0.004) and yet a higher level of happiness (Hedge'sg= 0.342, 95% CI = 0.074, 0.610;p= 0.018). Having a higher proportion of females in the sample is related to a smaller effect size in overall health outcomes (β = −2.205, 95% CI = −3.800, −0.613;p= 0.007) and social support specifically (β = −4.660, 95% CI = −6.261, −3.058;p< 0.0001). This study is among the first to synthesise the quantitative evidence regarding health differences between older religion believers and non-believers in China. It calls for future studies investigating the pathways underlying the religion–health relationship.

Do Quarantine Experiences and Attitudes Towards COVID-19 Affect the Distribution of Mental Health in China? A Quantile Regression Analysis.

While quarantine has become a widely used control strategy during the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), empirical research on whether and to what extent quarantine and attitudes towards COVID-19 affect mental health is scant. Using a cross-sectional online survey, this paper is the first from the Chinese outbreak to investigate how quarantine experiences and attitudes towards COVID-19 are related to mental health, and how these relationships change across the distribution of mental health scores. Using quantile regression analysis, we found that home self-quarantine is associated with a decrease in depression and an increase in happiness, while community-level quarantine is associated with decreased happiness, especially for those in the lower happiness quantile. We also found that favorable attitudes towards COVID-19 regarding the credibility of real-time updates and confidence in the epidemic control are associated with lower levels of depression and higher levels of happiness. These effects are stronger in the upper quantile of depression and the median quantile of happiness.

The Meaning of Happiness and Religiosity for Pre-Prosperous Family: Study in Manado, Bandar Lampung, and Yogyakarta

The results of this research (2017) want to explain the correlation between happiness and religiosity for poor families. The locus of this research is in the city of Manado, North Sulawesi Province, Bandar Lampung City, Lampung Province, and Yogyakarta City in Yogyakarta Special Region Province. This research is important because there is an assumption in the community that even poor people who are religious are certainly not happy. This assumption is further answered in this study, where there is a positive and significant relationship between happiness and religiosity in poor families in Yogyakarta, but not for Manado and Bandar Lampung. The highest level of happiness is in the city of Yogyakarta and the highest level of religiosity is in the city of Manado. This difference occurs because the concept of happiness for religious poor families in Manado, Yogyakarta and Bandar Lampung has different point of view and has the unique itself.

The Importance of Happiness at Work in Shaping the Performance of Insurance Agents at PT. A Surabaya

Employee performance is the result of employee work based on capabilities that can be measured in quantity or quality to carry out certain tasks or work during a specified period of time in accordance with the demands of work and responsibility given to him. While happiness is a latent construct and advantages of the positive aspects as satisfaction and overall quality of human life. Everything that makes an individual feel better and happy with what they have learned. This study aims to determine the correlation between the performances of the insurance agent with happiness in the workplace. This research was conducted on the insurance company PT. A, Surabaya, with participants (N = 50) is an insurance agent who has worked at least one year, once the training, regular meetings and seminars held firm at least 3 times. Data were collected by purposive sampling method. The data collection was carried out by using Performance Scale Ratings which includes five dimensions of performance appraisal, and Happiness Scale by using Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ). Data were analyzed using Pearson Product Moment parametric statistical analysis. The result of data shows that correlation coefficient was 0.802 with sig 0.000 (p <0.05), which means that there is a positive relationship between performance of the agents in the insurance of PT.A,Surabaya with happiness) in the workplace. Based on these results, happiness is proven to contribute effectively to the performance of an insurance agent in PT. A, Surabaya 64.4%. Descriptively, happiness levels of agent in PT.A,Surabaya was classified as moderate to high and most of the agents have a high level of happiness of 58% and most insurance agent in PT.A, Surabaya had high level of performance at 68 %

The Relationship Between Happiness and Consumption Expenditure: Evidence from Rural China

We use data from the 2016 China Labor-force Dynamics Survey (CLDS) to examine the relationship between happiness and consumption expenditure of rural farmers in China. A two-stage residual inclusion approach is applied to tackle the potential endogeneity issue of happiness. The empirical results show that a higher level of happiness is associated with an increase in consumption expenditure in general. Further analysis reveals that higher levels of happiness are positively and significantly associated with higher expenditures on basic living goods, education and gifts. We also find that both household income and access to the Internet boost happiness and increase consumption expenditure. Happiness plays a larger role in improving the consumption expenditure of rural households compared with their urban counterparts. Our findings may suggest that improving rural income via income diversification strategies and investing in rural information and communication technology infrastructures would encourage rural farmers’ happiness, promote the upgrading of rural consumption and boost sustainable economic growth.