IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jqecon/v17y2019i1d10.1007_s40953-018-0125-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Study on Happiness and Related Factors Among Indian College Students

Author

Listed:
  • Bidisha Chakraborty

    (Jadavpur University)

  • Souparna Maji

    (Jadavpur University)

  • Anamika Sen

    (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

  • Isha Mallik

    (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

  • Sayantan Baidya

    (Jadavpur University)

  • Esha Dwibedi

    (Jadavpur University)

Abstract

Happiness is considered to be one of the ultimate goals of life. This paper studies the happiness of Indian college and university students aged between 18 and 24 years. It attempts to answer whether and to what extent happiness of a student is significantly related to aspects of social life such as time spent with family, friends, being in a relationship, logging into social networking sites; academic factors such as job prospects of the chosen field of study and academic environment; and other personal factors such as health condition, over thinking or dwelling on past bad memories, addiction to tobacco/drug/alcohol. Moreover, this paper also inquires about the relationship between a student’s average happiness with her gender as well as the income class to which she belongs. It has been observed that among different aspects of social life, time spent with family and friends are significant while logging into social networking site is found out to be insignificant. Also being in a relationship is significantly but negatively related to happiness for male students. Job Prospects of the current field of study is a highly significant covariate of happiness irrespective of the gender of the student. Among different aspects of the personal situation, dwelling on past bad memories decreases happiness of both male and female students. Addiction to tobacco/alcohol is a negative covariate of female happiness. Furthermore, income and gender are seen to play an insignificant role in the happiness of Indian college and university students.

Suggested Citation

  • Bidisha Chakraborty & Souparna Maji & Anamika Sen & Isha Mallik & Sayantan Baidya & Esha Dwibedi, 2019. "A Study on Happiness and Related Factors Among Indian College Students," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 17(1), pages 215-236, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jqecon:v:17:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s40953-018-0125-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s40953-018-0125-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40953-018-0125-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40953-018-0125-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2003. "The Macroeconomics of Happiness," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 809-827, November.
    2. Oswald, Andrew J, 1997. "Happiness and Economic Performance," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(445), pages 1815-1831, November.
    3. Proto, Eugenio & Sgroi, Daniel & Oswald, Andrew J., 2010. "Are Happiness and Productivity Lower among University Students with Newly-Divorced Parents? An Experimental Approach," Economic Research Papers 271000, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    4. Simon, Herbert A, 1978. "Rationality as Process and as Product of Thought," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(2), pages 1-16, May.
    5. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2009. "The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 1(2), pages 190-225, August.
    6. KNIGHT, John & SONG, Lina & GUNATILAKA, Ramani, 2009. "Subjective well-being and its determinants in rural China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 635-649, December.
    7. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    8. Florian Kohlbacher, 2007. "Case Studies," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: International Marketing in the Network Economy, chapter 5, pages 126-165, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. repec:pri:cepsud:125krueger is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Hollander, Heinz, 2001. "On the validity of utility statements: standard theory versus Duesenberry's," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 227-249, July.
    11. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
    12. T. Lakshmanasamy, 2010. "Are You Satisfied with Your Income? The Economics of Happiness in India," Journal of Quantitative Economics, The Indian Econometric Society, vol. 8(2), pages 115-141.
    13. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger & David Schkade & Norbert Schwarz & Arthur A. Stone, 2006. "Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion," Working Papers 77, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    14. Frank, Robert H, 1997. "The Frame of Reference as a Public Good," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(445), pages 1832-1847, November.
    15. Grace Chan & Paul W. Miller & MoonJoong Tcha, 2005. "Happiness in University Education," International Review of Economic Education, Economics Network, University of Bristol, vol. 4(1), pages 20-45.
    16. Easterlin, Richard A., 1974. "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 111773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Charles Kenny, 1999. "Does Growth Cause Happiness, or Does Happiness Cause Growth?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 3-25, February.
    18. Ahmed Abdel-Khalek, 2004. "Research Note: Happiness among Kuwaiti College Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 93-97, March.
    19. Mohanty, Madhu S., 2009. "Effects of positive attitude on earnings: Evidence from the US longitudinal data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 357-371, March.
    20. John Conlisk, 1996. "Why Bounded Rationality?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(2), pages 669-700, June.
    21. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2004. "Money, Sex and Happiness: An Empirical Study," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(3), pages 393-415, October.
    22. Galina Balatsky & Ed Diener, 1993. "Subjective well-being among Russian students," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 225-243, March.
    23. Daniel Kahneman & Alan B. Krueger & David Schkade & Norbert Schwarz & Arthur A. Stone, 2006. "Would You Be Happier If You Were Richer? A Focusing Illusion," Working Papers 77, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Center for Economic Policy Studies..
    24. Goldsmith, Arthur H & Veum, Jonathan R & Darity, William, Jr, 1997. "The Impact of Psychological and Human Capital on Wages," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(4), pages 815-829, October.
    25. Daniel Kahneman, 2003. "Maps of Bounded Rationality: Psychology for Behavioral Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(5), pages 1449-1475, December.
    26. Easterlin, Richard A., 1995. "Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 35-47, June.
    27. Sendhil Mullainathan & Marianne Bertrand, 2001. "Do People Mean What They Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 67-72, May.
    28. Mohanty, Madhu S., 2009. "Effects of positive attitude on happiness and wage: Evidence from the US data," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 884-897, December.
    29. Ng, Yew-Kwang, 1997. "A Case for Happiness, Cardinalism, and Interpersonal Comparability," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(445), pages 1848-1858, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mingyang Han & Ruifeng Liu & Hengyun Ma & Kaiyang Zhong & Jian Wang & Yifan Xu, 2022. "The Impact of Social Capital on Farmers’ Willingness to Adopt New Agricultural Technologies: Empirical Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-19, September.
    2. Lina Martinez & Lina Sofia Valenzuela & Victoria Eugenia Soto, 2022. "Well-Being amongst College Students during COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a Developing Country," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2004. "Money, Sex and Happiness: An Empirical Study," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 106(3), pages 393-415, October.
    2. Betsey Stevenson & Justin Wolfers, 2008. "Economic Growth and Subjective Well-Being: Reassessing the Easterlin Paradox," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(1 (Spring), pages 1-102.
    3. Mohanty, Madhu S. & Ullah, Aman, 2012. "Direct and indirect effects of happiness on wage: A simultaneous equations approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 143-152.
    4. Drakopoulos, Stavros A., 2008. "The Concept Of Comparison Income: An Historical Perspective," MPRA Paper 8713, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2004. "Well-being over time in Britain and the USA," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(7-8), pages 1359-1386, July.
    6. Drakopoulos, Stavros, 2011. "Hierarchical Needs, Income Comparisons and Happiness Levels," MPRA Paper 48343, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Frey, Bruno S & Stutzer, Alois, 2000. "Happiness, Economy and Institutions," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(466), pages 918-938, October.
    8. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson & Pablo Querubin & James A. Robinson, 2008. "When Does Policy Reform Work? The Case of Central Bank Independence," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 39(1 (Spring), pages 351-429.
    9. Frey Bruno S. & Stutzer Alois, 2000. "Maximizing Happiness?," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 145-167, May.
    10. Di Tella, Rafael & Haisken-De New, John & MacCulloch, Robert, 2010. "Happiness adaptation to income and to status in an individual panel," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 834-852, December.
    11. Bruno S. Frey & Alois Stutzer, 2002. "What Can Economists Learn from Happiness Research?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 402-435, June.
    12. Gregor Gonza & Anže Burger, 2017. "Subjective Well-Being During the 2008 Economic Crisis: Identification of Mediating and Moderating Factors," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 1763-1797, December.
    13. Wen-Chun Chang, 2013. "Climbing up the Social Ladders: Identity, Relative Income, and Subjective Well-being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 513-535, August.
    14. Edsel Beja Jr., 2013. "Subjective Well-Being Approach to the Valuation of International Development: Evidence for the Millennium Development Goals," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 141-159, March.
    15. Andrew E. Clark & Paul Frijters & Michael A. Shields, 2006. "Income and happiness: Evidence, explanations and economic implications," PSE Working Papers halshs-00590436, HAL.
    16. Cai, Shu & Park, Albert, 2016. "Permanent income and subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 298-319.
    17. Rehdanz, Katrin & Maddison, David, 2005. "Climate and happiness," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 111-125, January.
      • Katrin Rehdanz & David J. Maddison, 2003. "Climate and Happiness," Working Papers FNU-20, Research unit Sustainability and Global Change, Hamburg University, revised Apr 2003.
    18. Qianping Ren & Maoliang Ye, 2017. "Donations Make People Happier: Evidence from the Wenchuan Earthquake," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 517-536, May.
    19. João Silvestre & Tanya Araújo & Miguel St. Aubyn, 2019. "Individual Satisfaction and Economic Growth in an Agent-Based Economy," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 54(3), pages 893-903, October.
    20. Kavetsos, Georgios & Szymanski, Stefan, 2010. "National well-being and international sports events," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 158-171, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Happiness; India; Students; Dummy regression; OLS; OLOGIT;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C21 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Cross-Sectional Models; Spatial Models; Treatment Effect Models
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jqecon:v:17:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1007_s40953-018-0125-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.