Not particularly linked with education, but there may be useful reading under the general heading of positive psychology (mainly from the end of the 20th century and into the 2000s. Ed Diener has written extensively on this subject and, with others, devised a satisfaction with life scale.

A quick search identified: Michalos, A. C. (2008). Education, happiness and wellbeing. Social Indicators Research, 87(3), 347-366.

Good luck with your topic; I will be interested to read the responses of others.

Mary

Hello Shirley,

You might be interested in the work of one of my PhD colleagues. She is looking at the concept of Quality from a non-western perspective and has identified Happiness as a key component that Soka teachers strive for. Here is a reference for a recent article that she wrote

Ikegami, Kiiko and Agbenyega, Joseph Seyram. Exploring educators' perspectives: How does learning through 'happiness' promote quality early childhood education? [online]. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, Vol. 39, No. 3, Sep 2014: 46-55.

Abstract: The quality of early childhood education has dominated current debates in the ways educators develop and implement learning programs for children yet conceptions of quality vary contextually and culturally. This qualitative case study explored the insider perspectives of six early childhood educators in Sapporo, Japan regarding their conceptions of the quality of early childhood education. Analysis of the data collected through interviews indicated that the most important factor the educators consider when programming for quality learning in early childhood is 'happiness'. The conception of happiness expressed by the educators emanated from the philosophical thinking of three Japanese philosophers namely, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, Josei Toda and Daisaku Ikeda. These thinkers argued that for education to be meaningful and serve society, happiness must form the fundamental principle of all learning programs. In this paper we argue that, by framing the quality of early childhood education in happiness, educators and children can engage deeply with learning that has the potential to influence the whole child and their full participation in society.

Hi Ms Harris, I would recommend some work of my supervisor's. One of her research interest is IS use and Subjective well-being. You may find her research papers on her website https://sites.google.com/site/angsanat/publication-1

Techatassanasoontorn, A.A., and Thaiprasert, N. (2013). Internet Use and Well-Being of Young Adults. Proceedings of International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Milan, Italy, Dec. 15-18, 2013.

Ractham, P., and Techatassanasoontorn, A.A. (2014). Social Media Use and Senior Citizens's Life Satisfaction. Proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Auckland, New Zealand, December 8-10, 2014.

Techatassanasoontorn, A.A., Tanvisuth, A. (2010). IS Use and Quality of Life: A Conceptualization and Empirical Investigation. AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, 2(2), 26-54

Thank you everyone this is a great start for me. I have also started reading about post materialism and see a link there to the pursuit of happiness that now seems to dominate our social media sites

Roy

I work in early childhood education so your reference is especially relevant for me - thank you so much

Check out this Ted talk: The Happy Secret to Better Work (he talks about how happiness affects learning) 

http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work#t-699983

I need to look up one of my former doctoral student's study on happiness for which I served as committee chair a few years ago. The scales and measurement devices she used in her study might be helpful to you in your study, Shirley.

Max

I would really appreciate that thank you so much. regards Shirley 

Thought I had it in my computer, but can't find it, so will have to look them up and ask them to send it to me. 

My expertise is not in education, however as part of a piece I was working on this year, here is a citation that might be of interest. 

Harris, J. (2011). Improve your mood in 30 seconds. Retrieved from http://jennaharris.hubpages.com/hub/Improve-your-mood-in-30-seconds

This leads to a more academic paper on the topic of smiling to make you happy.

Shirley, see if the attached gives you something you can use.

Happiness is consider as one of the factors to measure well-being. Moreover, there are many works regarding the association between different aspects of well-being.

see for a review: Shmotkin, D. (2005). Happiness in the face of adversity: Reformulating the dynamic and modular bases of subjective well-being. Review of General Psychology, 9(4), 291.‏

This would be a good start:

http://books.google.de/books/about/The_Science_of_Subjective_Well_Being.html?id=uoD1Ly9CeRAC&redir_esc=y

Dear Shirley:

I think this 2 articles are very important.

1.- Prof Andrew Steptoe, Prof Angus Deaton, PhD, Prof Arthur A Stone PhD.

Subjective Wellbeing, Health and Ageing.

The Lancet , Published on Line 05 November 2014.

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/50140-6736 (13)61489-0

2.- Mark A Bellis, Karen Hughes, Alyson Jones.

Public Health.

Childhood Happiness and Violence:  A Retrospective Study of their Impacts on Adult Well-being.

BMJ Open 2013; 3:e003427

DOI:10.1136/bmjopen-2013-003427

Best wishes.

Diana from Peru.

Hi Diana

Thank you so much for these articles

regards Shirley

You are welcome.

Diana.

I recommend the work by Ed Diener (e.g. http://mina.education.ucsb.edu/janeconoley/ed197/documents/Dienersubjectivewell-being.pdf) and Sonja Lyubomirsky (e.g. the book "The How of Happiness").

For an overview of the research on subjective well-being I particularly consider this book to be helpful: 

M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.) (2008). The science of subjective well-being. Guilford Press.

Here are some papers.

Article Gratitude and mental health: Differences between religious a...

Article Well-being and the HEXACO model of personality

Article God, the good life, and HEXACO: The relations among religion...

Article Purpose in life mediates the relationship between religiosit...

You may study The Holy Quran and try to understand and follow the saying of Quran.

Thank you everyone for all of your responses. I have been away which is why I have not replied sooner. I will investigate your suggestions and respond soon

Hello Shirley,

IN the past 20 year happiness and well-being research has grown exponentially. As you continue your research, be aware that many different disciplines are writing about the issue. For example economists have their own perspective, positive psychologists are looking at other aspects. Neuroscience is looking at it from a chemical level, and religious scholars or philosophers will look at the ethical and historical perspectives.

http://www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow

is a great resource for interdisciplinary research.

 Good luck

Happiness is usually consider as one of the well being parameters.

Please see these references for review:

George, L.K. (2010). Still happy after all these years: research frontiers on subjective well-being in later life. Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, 65B(3), 331–339, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbq006.

Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: Three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 276–301.

Shmotkin, D. (2005). Happiness in the face of adversity: Reformulating the dynamic and modular bases of subjective well-being. Review of General Psychology, 9(4), 291.‏

Thank you so much Yuval

Contentment other than materialism breeds happiness

Hi Denis

Yes thank you I have a colleague who wrote his PhD on the "Art of the Good Life" and he shared with me recently the concept of "Eudaimonia" which is very helpful for me with my writing. much appreciated Shirley