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GENERAL PERSPECTIVE
<br />SOURCES OF HAPPINESS
<br />riends are, by a wide margin, the source of
<br />happiness selected by the largest number of
<br />students in each of the three grades surveyed.
<br />Given a fist of 21 potential sources of happiness,
<br />most young people checked off about half of
<br />them. Next to friends, the most frequent choices are earning
<br />money, buying things they like, doing well in school, outdoor
<br />activities, doing a good job at something, listening to music,
<br />playing sports, going to parties, and family activities.
<br />To some extent, younger students and older students
<br />derive enjoyment from different activities. Family drops off
<br />as a source of enjoyment for older students; parties and
<br />dating become more important to them. Among older
<br />students, doing well in school also drops in rank, although the
<br />proportions of students selecting this choice are roughly the
<br />same in all three grades.
<br />For some choices, the number of males and females
<br />selecting the response is strikingly similar, such as doing a
<br />good job at something, and participating in clubs. In other
<br />areas, however, gender differences are marked. Whereas
<br />maies in all grades rank making money among their top four
<br />choices, females rank buying things in their top four. Males'
<br />preferences for activity, adventure, or competition can be
<br />seen in the higher numbers selecting the outdoors, sports,
<br />video or computer games, building, making or fixing things,
<br />driving a car, or riding a motorcycle.
<br />Although most females also enjoy the outdoors, they
<br />number of females who enjoy participating in sports drops off
<br />sharply for high school seniors. Very few females (19%
<br />compared with 45% for males) cite building things as a source
<br />of enjoyment. Females' greater emphasis on personal
<br />relationships is seen in the higher numbers citing friends,
<br />family, and dating as sources of enjoyment, although in these
<br />areas differences with boys are not large. The gender
<br />difference is more pronounced when it comes to taking care
<br />of other people: many more females than males (44% versus
<br />24%) say they get pleasure out of this; more females than
<br />males also enjoy volunteer work (26% versus 199'0). Another
<br />notable gender difference is in the area of creative activities,
<br />such as writing, painting, or playing a musical instrument;
<br />almost half of the females compared with only one third of
<br />the males enjoy such endeavors.
<br />Where gender differences exist, the general pattern is that
<br />they are least obvious among 6th graders, with a marked
<br />difference emerging among 9th graders, usually becoming
<br />even more pronounced among the oldest group of students.
<br />This pattern strongly suggests that, rather than reflecting
<br />innate differences, such activity preferences are derived or
<br />reinforced to a large extent through differential socialization
<br />of males and females.
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<br />A
<br />Table
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<br />SOURCES OF HAPPINESS
<br />}
<br />Overall
<br />Percentage of
<br />Overall
<br />Percentage of
<br />Rank
<br />All Students
<br />Rank
<br />All Students
<br />1 My friends
<br />879'o
<br />13
<br />Driving a car
<br />46%
<br />2 Making money
<br />76%
<br />14
<br />Playing video or computer games
<br />43%
<br />3 Buying things I like
<br />74%6
<br />15
<br />Creative activities (writing,
<br />4 Doing things outdoors
<br />74%
<br />painting, musical instruments)
<br />40%
<br />Doing well in school
<br />74%
<br />16
<br />Taking care of other people
<br />34%
<br />6 Doing a good job at something 709%
<br />17
<br />Building, making, or fixing things
<br />32"%,
<br />Listening to music
<br />70%
<br />13
<br />Being alone
<br />32%
<br />3 Playing sports
<br />67%
<br />19
<br />Riding a motoro.cie
<br />26'"n
<br />9 Going to parties
<br />64%
<br />20
<br />Beionging to clubs
<br />10 My family
<br />64"/o
<br />21
<br />Doing volunteer work
<br />23"10
<br />1 ii Dating
<br />59J >
<br />I+ i2 Watching TV or movies
<br />58'%�
<br />In terms of percentage-e,ec:,ng
<br />each choice.
<br />' Ranking derived from ra-entage
<br />totals before rniinding
<br />i
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<br />A
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