Effects of gender and education on happiness in argentinian adults

• Autores: Auné, Sofía Esmeralda, Abal, Facundo Juan Pablo, Attorresi, Horacio Félix
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2017
• Institución: Universidad de San Martín de Porres
• Repositorio: Liberabit
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs2.ojs3.revistaliberabit.com:article/4
• Enlace del recurso: http://www.revistaliberabit.com/index.php/Liberabit/article/view/4
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: felicidad; nivel educativo; género; psicología positiva

Happiness is defined as a positive emotion focusing on the present, which is highly desirable but difficult to achieve. To estimate the level of happiness in adults, we used the Argentinian version of the Happiness Scale of Lima (EFL, Alarcón, 2006). The EFL measures three dimensions: External Perspective of Sense of Life (SVPE), Internal Perspective of Sense of Life (SVPI) and Life Satisfaction (SCV). Three independent samples of 200 individuals each (50% female) were selected considering different educational levels (from high school graduates to college graduates). A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to each dimension taking into account gender and educational level as fixed factors. In all three dimensions, the interaction between having a higher educational level and being female favored significantly the highest scores of happiness (SVPE, F = 4.14, p = .02, partial η2 = .014; SVPI, F = 2.34, p = .09, partial η2 = .008; SCV, F = 3.34, p = .04, partial η2 = .011). A higher level of education by itself resulted in SVPE and SVPI higher happiness scores (SVPE, F = 4.12, p = .02, partial η2 = .014; SVPI, F = 4.24, p = .02; partial η2 = .014), whereas being female was the factor that significantly increased the levels of SCV happiness (F = 3.03, p = .08, partial η2 = .005).