IIT-B students fare low on happiness quotient

A survey conducted on happiness by the IIT-Bombay shows that on an average, students are unhappy with themselves, an article in the latest students newsletter Insight revealed.

A survey conducted on happiness by the IIT-Bombay shows that on an average, students are unhappy with themselves, an article in the latest students newsletter Insight revealed.

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The tool for testing was the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire developed by psychologists Michael Argyle and Peter Hills at Oxford University — a compact scale for the measurement of psychological well being.

The average individual usually receives a score of 4.3. People with scores below that are adjudged as unhappier than average and those with scores above it are described as being happier.

The test conducted on more than 200 respondents found that the average score was 3.43, significantly lower than the average score observed in other cases, says the article titled — Don't Worry Be Happy.

The 72 second-year undergraduate students who took the survey scored an average of 3.21, which is significantly lower than any other demographic surveyed. Women scored marginally better than men with an average score of 3.44 versus 3.34. The inferences are many ranging from academic pressure to inability to cope with extra-curricular activities.

"Once in IITB, they're often faced with tough choices both on the academic and extra-curricular front. The importance of these choices only increases as the years go by and students often find less-than-perfect ways to cope with the mounting stress," the article says.

When asked to answer the question — There is a gap between what I would like to do and what I’ve done — 80% respondents agreed.

But when asked if they felt optimistic about their future, most students in the 4th and 5th year of the UG courses responded in the affirmative.