Identifying and Ranking the Antecedents of Military Students' Well-Being and Happiness: A Mixed Approach

The present research has been conducted to identify the effective factors on enhancing the well-being and happiness of military students in a defense organizational university. This applied research has been done with a qualitative-quantitative sequential mixed method. The qualitative stage is done with the aim of identifying the antecedents of well-being and happiness. The participants of this stage were selected students of the studied university. The information of this stage was collected by semi-structured interview and analyzed by thematic analysis method. In the quantitative stage, this model was validated and the identified antecedents were ranked. The statistical population of this stage was the students of the same university.The data of this stage were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed by factor analysis method through PLS software. Findings shoewd that the identified antecedents of well-being and happiness were categorized into three main categories: individual factors, group factors and organizational factors. Quantitative findings also showed that the classification done can be confirmed. The ranking of the influence of these factors is also organizational, individual and group antecedents respectively. Accordingly, improving the current situation of these factors among military students can help enhance their level of well-being and happiness. Furthermore, paying attention to this issue in these universities will improve the mental health of students, promote dynamism and vitality in these environments and reduce the harms caused by the conditions of living in such day and night environments.