Is Being “Smart and Well Behaved†a Recipe for Happiness in Western Australian Primary Schools?

Little is known about the relationship between students’ perceptions of their behaviour and intellectual statuswithin the classroom and their happiness. Educational practitioners consistently confront misbehaviour andacademic failure; whether this is an indicator of student happiness is unclear. In this exploratory research twohundred and fifty six students were asked to self-rate their happiness via a faces scale. These students alsocompleted a self-concept scale focussed on behavioural adjustment and intellectual and school status todetermine whether these were factors that impacted on their happiness. Additionally, parents and teachers ratedthe participant’s happiness. The findings of this research indicate that the students’ perceptions of their behaviourand academic capability accounted for variance in their self-rated happiness. Both sub-scales accounted for morevariance in the students’ self-reported happiness than the teachers’ and parents’ ratings. The findings of thisresearch are consistent with the few previous studies that attribute social factors such as belonging to childhoodhappiness.