Abstract:
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The study aims to examine happiness level, the relating to happiness, and the ranking of factors that influence happiness level among household heads in urban and rural areas of Thailand. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative analyses. In the quantitative analysis, the researcher measured happiness level and analyzed the factors relating to happiness by means of an interview questionnaire, where the qualitative analysis was in the form of a focus group discussion. In analyzing the data, the study employed univariate analysis (e.g. frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation), bivariate analysis (e.g. different percentage, chi-square test, and gamma), and multivariate analysis (e.g. multiple regression), as well as tape-based analysis. The results indicated that the happiness level of rural household heads was at a mean score of 8.21 and that of urban household heads was at a mean score of 7.7. The happiness level of household heads increased compared to the previous 2 or 3 years by around 48 percent in urban areas and 47 percent in rural areas. Around 50% of household heads in both areas had the same happiness level as their friends. The study found that females were more likely to be happier than males in urban areas, but not in rural areas. Age was not correlated with happiness. Married people were more likely to be happier than those that were single. In urban areas, people with higher education were more likely to be happy than those with lower education, but this was not true in rural areas. The factors that affected happiness level included the amount of time spent with family members, financial satisfaction, work satisfaction, community satisfaction, satisfaction with friends, health satisfaction, religious satisfaction, perceived sense of control, optimism, and self-esteem. In addition, self-esteem, family satisfaction, work satisfaction, satisfaction with friends, financial satisfaction, and health satisfaction could significantly predict the happiness of urban household heads by 40.2%, where selfesteem had the highest predictive power. The results differed in the rural areas, where satisfaction with friends, family satisfaction, financial satisfaction, and optimism could significantly predict happiness by 23.7%; the most powerful prediction of happiness was satisfaction with friends. The results from the focus group discussion indicated that emotional control was the most important factor to the happiness level of respondents. This supports the Buddhist teaching on how to manage the mind to let go of emotions and to believe in the law of Kamma, where “good action brings about good results and vice versa.” Additional factors that affected happiness level included family, job, and economical status, where rural respondents were found to focus more on their community and family. For rural respondents, happiness was associated with giving, while urban respondents indicated that job achievement was the most important. Both urban and rural respondents confirmed that the value of work was more important to them than income, given that their income was able to support their family.
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