The role of positive living conditions in happiness: A sub-cultural study

Pages:75-82
Kalpana Sahoo (Asian School of Business Management, Bhubaneswar, Orissa)

People in India have been experiencing significant changes in many sectors of their personal and social life. Yet the dichotomy of urban and rural setting exists in many pockets of Indian Union. The present study employs such a naturalistic setting where quasi-experimental groups of urban and rural participants are compared with respect to indicators of happiness. The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of positive living conditions experienced by urban participants. The study involved a factorial 2(setting: urban vs. rural) x 2(sex) design. The dependent measures of happiness included overall life satisfaction, satisfaction with general as well as specific areas of life functioning, positive affect experience, negative affect experience, perception of resourcefulness and goal accomplishment. All these variables were measured with the help of a standardized questionnaire: Life Orientation Scale (LOS). The analysis of group differences indicated that urban people revealed greater happiness not only in the area of overall life satisfaction but also in specific areas of happiness such as education, self, leisure, job and finance. However, rural participants reported a greater happiness only in the domains of social support and family. Urban participants also reported a greater degree of resourcefulness and goal accomplishment than did rural participants. The findings were explained in terms of the improved living conditions of contemporary urban setting. Major implications of the study were pointed out and directions for future research were outlined.