FEATURE15 August 2016

Building blocks of happiness

x Sponsored content on Research Live and in Impact magazine is editorially independent.
Find out more about advertising and sponsorship.

Jane Bainbridge

Asia Pacific Europe Features Impact Latin America Middle East and Africa North America UK Youth

UK — It’s easy to assume life was simpler, and happier, for the younger generation in the pre-internet good old days, but a research project by 2CV, among 16- to 18-year-olds, points to a generally happy generation.

Shutterstock_113022223

The popular image of teenagers is of moody, uncommunicative, introspective individuals enduring a rollercoaster of emotions. But as anyone who spends any time with young people will know, this is not the whole story. 

How happy they are, however, is a moot point, especially from an adult perspective – which is why research into happiness among 16- to 18-year-olds, by integrated consumer market research agency 2CV, makes such interesting reading. 

The agency combined quantitative and qualitative research: 500 girls and boys across the UK took part in its 10-minute, mobile-enabled survey – which had integrated behavioural science techniques to elicit impulsive, implicit feelings – and 14 young people took part in week-long auto-ethnographies. The research pointed to young people, by and large, being happy. Generally speaking, 44% feel high levels of happiness, 43% feel mid levels of happiness, and 13% feel low levels of happiness.

However, happiness is neither fixed nor stagnant at this age. Jane Goldthorpe, research director ...