What makes you happy?: Appreciating the reason that bring happiness to argentine children living in vulnerable social contexts

Abstract

A growing body of research has documented factors that predict happiness in adults; however, studies on children's happiness have just begun. The aim of this study was to explore Argentine children's reasons for happiness. The sample included 120 children between the ages of 7 and 9 years (M = 8.03; SD = 0.72) who attended Argentine public schools. The Face Scale was used to evaluate how children assess happiness and a focused interview was conducted to obtain their spontaneous verbal descriptions of what made them happy. A content analysis was then conducted was after the interviews. Most of the children reckoned that family and friendships were the main sources of happiness. They also mentioned different kinds of activities as sources of happiness, like school, recreation and leisure activities, and owning and playing with pets. These findings may be useful for designing mental health programs aimed at promoting positive socio-emotional development during childhood.