What counts as happiness for young people: A qualitative study |
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Authors: | Cordelia Sutton |
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Institution: | Department of Psychology, Bath Spa University, Bath, UK |
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Abstract: | Limited research exists on young people's own views on their happiness, with research dominated by adult-led, quantitative well-being studies. This article discusses a qualitative study on young people's happiness which draws on both Psychology and Childhood and Youth Studies. In all, 42 young people completed writings and a new method of ‘happiness maps’, together with discussion groups and interviews, which were analysed within a constructivist grounded theory approach. Happiness is revealed as wide-ranging, complex, and individually variable. Family and friends were important, but these relationships were qualified and contingent in how they contributed to happiness. Importantly, discussions of happiness also incorporated unhappiness. |
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Keywords: | happiness subjective well-being young people |
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