Happiness and Self esteem among College Students

Happiness refers to a state of well being, one of the most cherished goals which individuals as well as societies strive for. Happiness has been associated with a number of individual and societal factors, self esteem being one of the prominent individual factors. The present study investigated happiness and self esteem among college students pursuing different streams of study, including professional courses. The participants (N=500) were selected randomly from different colleges in Trichur and Ernakulam districts of Kerala, and were administered the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. The obtained data were analysed using ‘t’ test, !NOV! and correlation. The results revealed significant differences in happiness between the male and the female students as well as among students pursuing different courses of study. The male students were happier than the females, the students pursuing commerce/management courses had higher happiness levels than the other students while the nursing students reported the lowest level of happiness. Happiness was found to have moderate significant positive correlation with self esteem.