Perceived Environmental Conditions forHappiness: A Study on North Indian Adolescents
Keywords:
Environmental factors, Happiness, Adolescents, Happiness facilitating factorsAbstract
The present study aimed to understand how perceived environmental conditions act as facilitators and inhibitors of happiness among North Indian adolescents. A total of 1323 adolescentsof North India aged 11-19 years (814 male and 509 female,Mean =15.35 years, SD = 1.39) participated in the study. Qualitative data about participants’ perception of surrounding environment like ‘the reasons/ factors that made adolescents happy at home’, ‘the reasons/ factors that made adolescents happy at school’ and ‘whether the adolescents wanted a change in their home and school environment and if yes then what’etc. was collected via a questionnaire. Interpersonal relationships with their parents at home (for girls 34.61% and boys 28.13%)and friends or classmates (for girls 46.35% and boys 35.77%) at school emerged as major contributors to their happiness. Majority of the adolescents opined that they did not want any change in their home (70.33%) and school (61.43%) environment. The detailed result has been discussed in the study.
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