Abstract

AUNE, Sofía Esmeralda; ABAL, Facundo Juan Pablo  and  ATTORRESI, Horacio Félix. Effects of gender and education on happiness in argentinian adults. liber. [online]. 2017, vol.23, n.2, pp.169-188. ISSN 1729-4827.  http://dx.doi.org/https://doi.org/10.24265/liberabit.2017.v23n2.02.

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 η ² = .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).

Keywords : happiness; educational level; gender; positive psychology.

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