Happiness Index Analysis By Kevin, Jinxi, Patrick, Sal

Analysis Focus Focus: Overall satisfaction with life and affect (feelings) Two Groups: Individuals who lived alone and Individuals with at least one roomate Hypothesis: Individuals who live alone will rank themselves lower on all 8 questions

UW Students Column1 UW Alone 6.428 6.285 6.714 4.142 4 3.285 3.714 If the top step is 10 and the bottom step is 0, on which step of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at the present time? Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? I lead a purposeful and meaningful life. I am engaged and interested in my daily activities. I am optimistic about my future. In general, I feel very positive about myself. In general, I would say my health is: UW Alone 6.428 6.285 6.714 4.142 4 3.285 3.714 UW With at least 1 roomate 6.804 6.574 6 3.595 3.586 3.489 3.170 Blue = 10 point scale, Green = 5 point scale

Findings UW students living alone: ranked themselves higher in Life worth, having a purposeful and meaningful life, being engaged in daily activities, and overall health. More autonomy and independence Healthy balance between social life, work, and personal time Privacy

Findings UW students with at least one roomate: ranked themselves higher on Cantril’s ladder, satisfaction with life, and self positivity Good relationships improve self esteem Individuals that share more relationships may feel happier with where they are in life Place connections over achievements

Other SU Other SU living alone 8.33 9.00 4.00 4.67 5.00 4.33 3.33 If the top step is 10 and the bottom step is 0, on which step of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at the present time? Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? I lead a purposeful and meaningful life. I am engaged and interested in my daily activities. I am optimistic about my future. In general, I feel very positive about myself. In general, I would say my health is: Other SU living alone 8.33 9.00 4.00 4.67 5.00 4.33 3.33 Other SU living with roommate 7.69 7.37 7.61 3.89 3.97 4.09 3.69 3.14 Blue = 10 point scale, Green = 5 point scale

Findings Other SU students living alone rate themselves higher in every question, comparing to Other SU students who live with roommate(s) Other SU students who live alone show high scores in overall life satisfaction and expectation of their future.

Findings By comparing with UW groups, both Other SU groups show a significant difference in life satisfaction questions(10-point scale). Other SU students also show slightly higher scores regarding meaningful life, daily activities, and health(5-point scale) Possible explanation: Other SU students may benefit from the advantage of a small community of Seattle University.

Our class Blue = 10 point scale, Green = 5 point scale

Findings Hypothesis was incorrect People living alone: More satisfied and meaningful life People living with someone: Healthier, more engaged, optimistic about future Our hypothesis for this study was that, “individuals who lived alone would feel more lonely and as a result less optimistic and satisfied with their lives currently”. However, it turned out that it was incorrect. Instead, people who were living alone actually were more satisfied with their lives and felt more meaningful. On the other hand, people living with someone rated their health higher than those who lived alone. In addition, they also had a more engaged life and were interested in their daily activities.

Large Group Blue = 10 point scale, Green = 5 point scale If the top step is 10 and the bottom step is 0, on which step of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at the present time? Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? I lead a purposeful and meaningful life. I am engaged and interested in my daily activities. I am optimistic about my future. In general, I feel very positive about myself. In general, I would say my health is: Large Group Alone 5.81 5.53 6.03 3.38 3.42 3.50 3.19 3.16 Large group With at least 1 roommate 6.11 6.01 6.19 3.52 3.47 3.68 3.22 3.18

Findings 332 respondents who lived alone and 2410 respondents who lived with one person or more The results go to show that those who lived with at least 1 other person, had higher scores in all metrics which means they were more satisfied with their lives and generally happier overall. Could be because of many factors such as companionship and meaningful relationships.

Conclusion In conclusion we do not feel that our hypothesis was a one size fits all indicator of overall happiness. Even in the large group analysis where individuals who lived with at least one other individual ranked themselves higher in every category those rankings came just barely higher than individuals who lived alone. It seems that individuals who live alone are still able to maintain proper health and meaningful relationships even with the extra hurdle of needing to look outside of their homes to do so.