The Sense of Happiness and its Academic Determinants (Case Study: Female Students of University of Isfahan)

  Happiness is a situation in which one feels and believes that his life is in the right direction. "Happiness as one of the basic positive emotions plays a decisive role in providing the health of the individual and society. Happiness is always accompanied by generosity, optimism, hope and trust, and as a catalyst, it can play an accelerating role in the development of society "(Chalabi and Mousavi, 2008). Studies have shown that "happiness, regardless of how it is acquired, improves physical health. Those who are happy, feel more secure, make decisions more easily, have more cooperative spirit and feel more satisfied with those who live (Akbarzadeh et al. 2013).
Happiness is one of the main components of the quality of life in all age groups, especially university students. Students suffer from various psychological stresses such as immigration, cultural changes, difficulty in dormitory environments, lack of interest in the field of study, educational issues and problems, a volume of courses, and so on. These pressures endanger their mental health (Sharifi et al. 2010) All these factors, combined with other factors at different levels, can have a significant negative impact on students' happiness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of happiness among female students of Isfahan University and to investigate the role of some of its related university factors. Also, the results of these studies are important for university policies in the area of quality management of student experiences and how resources are allocated to enrich students' learning experience.
Material & This study was conducted using a survey method and questionnaire technique. The statistical population of this study was all students of undergraduate and postgraduate students of Isfahan University. Students from different disciplines were selected according to the typology of Bacher (1987). For sampling, stratified sampling method was used. In general, based on research literature, hypotheses related to the impact of academic factors (such as social capital, academic satisfaction, the notion of a career future, academic self-efficacy and academic motivation) on the student’s happiness were tested. To assess the validity of the scales, content and factor validity were used.
Discussion of Results & The results of this study showed that the level of happiness in students is not satisfactory. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results show that academic self-efficacy and satisfaction with the field have direct and academic social capital, career hope, and educational motivation have indirect effects on the sense of happiness among female students. The feeling of self-efficacy is also affected by social capital and interactions that students create with each other and with their professors in departments. The relationship between academic social capital and increasing their self-efficacy is in line with previous research. However, the radius of relationships and interactions outside the departments as membership in the communities and the associations have little effect on students' happiness. Unlike other researches (Nix, Ryan, Manly and Deci, 1999: Novel, 2017: Waterman et al. 2008; Hassanzadeh and Mahdinejad, 2013), there was no direct relationship between the motivation (whether internal or external) to enter the university and happiness, but students who feel satisfied and self-efficacy have a greater sense of happiness. Along with other researches (such as Eliasi, 2006 and Sharifi et al. 2010), satisfaction from the discipline also has a direct impact on the happiness of female students and also affects their happiness by increasing academic self-efficacy. Student satisfaction is also heavily influenced by students' perceptions of the future of their career. In general, happiness is influenced by various factors in micro (personality), meso (organizations and families) and macro level (economic, social, and political), which in this research merely deals with some organizational and academic factors. The present article's claim is that if the university has a dynamic environment, it can be a source of happiness for students. On the contrary, frustration in the educational settings, the uncertain future of a career, and the feeling of wasting life without the acquisition of scientific and cultural resources can be converted into economic resources and pave the way for mental pressures and depression other mental disorders, and social and cultural pathologies among students