Sources of Happiness: A Comparison of Male and Female Scholars

Happiness is a concept which means many things to many people. Sources of happiness again vary from person to person. So in order to understand the phenomena from the perspective of research scholars, the present study was conducted on a sample of 60 research scholars in a central University, equally divided in two groups of male (n=30) and females (n=30). The Subjective Happiness Scale developed (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) was administered along with few open ended questions on sources of happiness. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data revealed that mean happiness scores were not statistically significant between male and female scholars. Content analysis of open ended questions yielded main sources of happiness for females in terms of importance of friends, family support, achieving goals, positive thinking, success, money, peace of mind and entertainment. While males reported belief in almighty, religious activities, honest work, achieving goals, family support, positive thinking, money, good health, friends and less responsibility as main sources of happiness. Some unique sources of happiness for females were internet surfing, going out to restaurants, self confidence, on the other hand, sports, less family burden, and accepting change easily were reported by males. The findings of the present study highlight the importance of directing more systematic research, particularly in the context of cross cultural understanding of happiness in youth.