Happiness and Risk Behaviours in Freshman Students of Khorramabad Universities

Abstract

Background: Happiness is one of the 6 important senses and is associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and life satisfaction. These elements relate to risk behaviours. Objectives: This study aimed at investigating happiness and its correlation with risk behaviours and environmental factors in freshman students. Methods: Overall, 1056 new students were selected randomly from Khorramabad universities in 2015. Oxford happiness questionnaire (OHQ) was completed by the students. Independent t test, chi-square, and correlation coefficient with a significance level of 5% were used. Results: Happiness score was 4.09 ± 0.71 with no significant difference between genders or universities (P ≥ 0.05). Among females, happiness was associated with physical activities (P = 0.001). Hookah smoking was associated with decreased happiness in all students (P = 0.001). Among males, smoking had an inverse relationship with happiness (P = 0.037). Conclusions: Although the happiness score among students of various universities was high and comparable at the beginning of their academic course, the current study will be continued to investigate changes in students’ happiness and also affecting factors throughout their education.