The Correlates of Happiness: Cross-National Data Analyses

The goal of this chapter is to try to explain the correlates of both student and general happiness. To facilitate accomplishment of that aim, a large cross-national data set of extensive empirical indicators of both happiness and its possible correlates was compiled. For the first time ever, an index of holistic education is created and countries are ranked on this metric which integrates traditional academic success and students’ happiness/well-being. From the rankings presented, both Mexico and Costa Rica do quite well, far better than many richer countries, and also Peru, Thailand, and Vietnam do much better than many wealthier nations. The various quantitative analyses of this chapter have been done to advance the science of happiness by trying to discover factors that may explain both general and student happiness. Our regression model for explaining general happiness had much higher explanatory power than that for student happiness. Our quantitative findings remarkably mirror the rich narratives of our 11 country case studies. And probably most importantly a major analytical finding related to student happiness suggests optimistically that even less wealthy nations can succeed in the pursuit of holistic education to promote happiness and well-being.