GENDER AND COMPLEXION AS DETERMINANTS OF HAPPINESS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN AWKA, ANAMBRA STATE

Résumé

The study is on Gender and Complexion as Determinants of Happiness among Secondary School Students in Awka, Anambra State.  The participants in this study were made up of one hundred and sixty-seven (167) secondary students in Awka Metropolis, Awka, Anambra State. Out of the participants, 68 (41%) were boys and 99 (59%) were girls. Their ages range from 11 (eleven) to 20 (twenty) years old with mean age of 14. Their complexions are, Dark, Chocolate, and Fair. Among the participants, 26 (16%) were Dark, 91 (54%) were Chocolate and 50 (30%) were Fair respectively.  One instrument was used for the study; Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) developed by Lyubomirsky and Lepper (1999). Data was collected through purposive sampling technique; the design for study was Cross-Sectional and 2-way ANOVA statistics was used for analysis.  The first hypothesis which stated that Gender will not significantly determine happiness among secondary school students in Awka was confirmed at f (1, .051) = .822, p<0.05 level of significance. Also, the second hypothesis which stated that Complexion will not significantly determine happiness among secondary school students in Awka was confirmed at f (2, .096) = .909, p<0.05 level of significance. Finally, third hypothesis which stated that Complexion will not differ significantly with gender in determining happiness among secondary school students in Awka was also confirmed at f (2, .381) =.684, p<0.05 level of significance. It is recommended that researchers should advance this study with another population to ascertain the determinants of happiness among youths.