Unwrapping the Gift Box: Exploring School Children’s Happiness and Unhappiness in Türkiye, from a Causality Perspective

Year 2022, Volume: 9 Issue: 5, 449 - 466, 01.09.2022

Aysun Erginer , Ergin Erginer , Anıl Eranıl

https://doi.org/10.17275/per.22.123.9.5

Abstract

In the face of the distance between logic and emotion, it is a difficult process to examine the happiness of humankind, who is in a fight of existence with these ideas and feelings. Considering that the ultimate goal of pedagogy is to make people happy through education, it will immediately be understood that it will become even more difficult to investigate children's happiness. It was aimed to investigate the causes of happiness and unhappiness from the eyes of the teacher and the child, and the research was designed with a qualitative method. The data were collected by enabling teachers and prospective teachers to observe primary school children and by conducting interviews with them. A kind of conceptual photograph of children's happiness and unhappiness was tried to be taken from the data obtained as a result of the content analysis. The children explained their reasons for being happy almost with justifications related to not being unhappy. In order to be happy in the eyes of children, it is necessary not to fail, not to be alone or not? to compete, and it is necessary for them to be motivated. The happiness values of male and female children differ from each other.

Keywords

Happiness, unhappiness, child, teacher, prospective teacher

Supporting Institution

No

Project Number

No

References

• Acosta, R. M., & Hutchison, M. (2017). The happiest kids in the world: How Dutch parents help their kids (and themselves) by doing less. New York: The Experiment LLC.
• Aknin, L. B., Hamlin, J. K., & Dunn, E. W. (2012). Giving leads to happiness in young children. PLoS one, 7(6), e39211.
• Aktin, K. (2018). Siginmaci cocuklarin mutluluk temali resimlerinden yansimalar, Ilkogretim Online, 17(3), 1524-1547.
• Aydin, B., Kara, E., & Gunbey, M. (2019). İlkokul yillarinda ogrencileri mutlu ve mutsuz eden ogretmen davranislari ve bu davranislarin etkileri. Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli Universitesi SBE Dergisi, 9(1), 69-92.
• Badri, M., Al Nuaimi, A., Guang, Y., Al Sheryani, Y. & Al Rashedi, A. (2018). The effects of home and school on children’s happiness: A structural equation model. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy (ICEP), 12(1), 1-16.
• Barrera-Hernández, L. F., Sotelo-Castillo, M. A., Echeverría-Castro, S. B., & Tapia-Fonllem, C. O. (2020). Connectedness to nature: Its impact on sustainable behaviors and happiness in children. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 276.
• Basaran, M., & Ozcelik, A.D. (2020). Kirsalda yasayan cocuklarin mutluluga iliskin algilari: Mutluluk nedir? Nasil mutlu ederler? Nasil mutlu olurlar? Cukurova Universitesi Egitim Fakultesi Dergisi, 49(1), 400-429.
• Bradshaw, J., Martorano, B., Natali, L., & de Neubourg, C. (2013a). ‘Children’s subjective well-being in rich countries’, Working Paper 2013-03. Florence: UNICEF Office of Research. http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/iwp_2013_3.pdf
• Bradshaw, J., Martorano, B., Natali, L., & de Neubourg, C. (2013b). Children’s subjective well-being in rich countries. Child Indicators Research, 6(4), 619-635.
• Brenifier, O. (2015). Filozof cocuk-Mutlu olmak icin neye ihtiyacim var? (Ceviri: Gokce Mine Olgun, Resimleyen: Catherine Meurisse), İzmir: Tudem Yayinlari.
• Cho, S. Y., Shin, H. Y., Choi, M. S., & Choi, H. Y. (2009). Survey of Korean elementary school children's happiness. Korean Journal of Child Studies, 30(2), 129-144.
• Copeland, E. P., Nelson, R. B., & Traughber, M. C. (2010). Wellness dimensions relate to happiness in children and adolescents. Advances in School Mental Health Promotion, 3(4), 25-37.
• Celik, E., Tugrul, B., & Yalcin, S. S. (2002), Dort-alti duygusal yaslar arasindaki anaokulu cocuklarinin yuz ifadesiyle kendilerini, anne-babalarini ve ogretmenlerini algilamasi, Hacettepe Universitesi Egitim Fakultesi Dergisi, 22, 29-39.
• Davies, W. (2018). Mutluluk endustrisi, (Ceviri: Muge Cavdar), Istanbul: Sel Yayincilik. Eland, E. (2020). Where happiness begins, London: Andersen Press.
• Farrelly, E. M. (2008). Blubberland: The dangers of happiness. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
• Ferssizidis, P., Kashdan, T. B., Marquart, R. A., & Steger, M. F. (2013). Positive psychological experiences and psychopathology: A self-regulatory perspective. In Oxford handbook of happiness, Edited by Susan A. David, Ilona Boniwell, and Amanda Conley Ayers, (page:101-118), Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Glenn, N. D., & McLanahan, S. (1982). Children and marital happiness: A further specification of the relationship. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 63-72.
• Hall, L., Hume, C., & Tazzyman, S. (2016, June). Five degrees of happiness: Effective smiley face likert scales for evaluating with children. In Proceedings of the The 15th International Conference on Interaction Design and Children (pp. 311-321).
• Hayashibara, S. (2019). A comparison of the happiness of primary school students in the Kingdom of Bhutan and in Japan . PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences, 5(2), 531-541.
• Holder, M. D., & Coleman, B. (2008). The contribution of temperament, popularity, and physical appearance to children’s happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9(2), 279-302.
• Holder, M. D., & Klassen, A. (2010). Temperament and happiness in children. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11(4), 419-439.
• Holder, M. D., Coleman, B., & Singh, K. (2012). Temperament and happiness in children in India. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(2), 261-274.
• Holder, M. D., Coleman, B., & Wallace, J. M. (2010). Spirituality, religiousness, and happiness in children aged 8–12 years. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11(2), 131-150.
• Karabay, S. O., & Aydin, D.G. (2017). Farkli gecmis yasantilardan gelen cocuklarin mutluluk ve gelecek ile ilgili gorusleri. Ilkogretim Online, 16(4), 1816-1828.
• Kim, Y. H., & Kang, M. H. (2008). Relationships among children's happiness, personality types and parents-child communication patterns. Korean Journal of Child Studies, 29(6), 35-54.
• Klassen, A. N. (2008). The contribution of temperament to children's happiness, Doctoral dissertation, Vancouver: University of British Columbia.
• Kohler, H. P., Behrman, J. R., & Skytthe, A. (2005). Partner+ children= Happiness? The effects of partnerships and fertility on well‐being. Population and development review, 31(3), 407-445.
• Labbé, B., & Puech, M. (2016). Citir citir felsefe-Mutluluk ve mutsuzluk, (Ceviri: Azade Aslan, Resimleyen: Jackues Azam), Istanbul: Gunisigi Kitapligi.
• Lama, D. (2006). Yurekten gelen ogutler, (Ceviri: Isil Olmez), Istanbul: Alfa Yayincilik.
• Lama, D., & Cutler, H. C. (2011). Mutluluk sanati-Yasam icin bir el kitabi, (Ceviri: Gunes Tokcan), Istanbul; Klan Yayinlari.
• Margolis, R., & Myrskylä, M. (2011). A global perspective on happiness and fertility. Population and Development Review, 37(1), 29-56.
• Martorano, B., Natali, L., de Neubourg, C., & Bradshaw, J. (2013a). ‘Child wellbeing in advanced economies in the late 2000s’, Working Paper 2013-01. Florence: UNICEF Office of Research. http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/iwp_2013_1.pdf
• Martorano, B., Natali, L., de Neubourg, C., & Bradshaw, J. (2013b). ‘Child wellbeing in economically rich countries: Changes in the first decade of the 21st century’, Working Paper 2013-02. Florence: UNICEF Office of Research. http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/iwp_2013_2.pdf
• Martorano, B., Natali, L., de Neubourg, C., & Bradshaw, J. (2014). Child well-being in advanced economies in the late 2000s. Social indicators research, 118(1), 247-283.
• McAuley, C., & Layte, R. (2012). Exploring the relative influence of family stressors and socio-economic context on children’s happiness and well-being. Child Indicators Research, 5(3), 523-545.
• McCabe, K., Bray, M. A., Kehle, T. J., Theodore, L. A., & Gelbar, N. W. (2011). Promoting happiness and life satisfaction in school children. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 26(3), 177-192.
• McMahon, D. M. (2013). Mutluluk: Mutluluk uzerine tarihsel bir calisma, (Ceviri: KivancTanriyar), Istanbul: E Yayinlari.
• McMahon, D. M. (2010). What does the ideal of happiness mean?. Social Research: An International Quarterly, 77(2), 469:490.
• Mert, A., & Kahraman, M. (2018). Ortaokul ogrencilerinin aile iliskileri ile mutluluk duzeyleri arasindaki iliskinin incelenmesi. Mersin Universitesi Egitim Fakultesi Dergisi, 14(3), 1070-1081.
• Ninomiya, Y., Matsumoto, M., Nomura, A., Kemppinen, L., Odgerel, D., Keskinen, S., ... & Morita, M. (2021). A cross-cultural study of happiness in Japanese, Finnish, and Mongolian children: Analysis of the sentence completion test. Child Indicators Research, 14(2), 871-896.
• O’Rourke1, J. & Cooper, M. (2017). Lucky to be happy: A study of happiness in Australian primary students. Australian Journal of Educational & Developmental Psychology, 10, 94-107.
• Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2006). Character strengths and happiness among young children: Content analysis of parental descriptions. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7(3), 323-341.
• Reece, C. D. (2014). Social context and the pathways to happiness, Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 1415. http://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/1415.
• Schnall, S., Jaswal, V. K., & Rowe, C. (2008). A hidden cost of happiness in children. Developmental Science, 11(5), F25-F30. Swerling, L., & Lazar, R. (2018). Mutluluk, (Ceviri: Dilara Anil Ozgen), Istanbul: Pegasus Yayincilik.
• Talebzadeh, F., & Samkan, M. (2011). Happiness for our kids in schools: A conceptual model. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 1462-1471.
• Thoilliez, B. (2011). How to grow up happy: An exploratory study on the meaning of happiness from children’s voices. Child Indicators Research, 4(2), 323-351.
• UNICEF Office of Research (2013). ‘Child well-being in rich countries: A comparative overview’, Innocenti Report Card 11 (it was written by Peter Adamson.), Florence: UNICEF Office of Research.
• Uusitalo-Malmivaara, L. (2012). Global and school-related happiness in Finnish children. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(4), 601-619. Unuvar, D., Calisandemir, Y., Tagay, Y., & Amini, F. (2015). Okul oncesi donem cocuklarinin mutluluk algisi (Turkiye ve Afganistan Ornegi). Mehmet Akif Ersoy Universitesi Egitim Fakultesi Dergisi, 1 (34), 1-22.
• Van Hal, G., Bruggeman, B., Aertsen, P., Gabriëls, J., Marechal, E., Mortelmans, W., Rotsaert, J., & Van Dongen, S. (2014). A survey on happiness in primary school children in Flanders: Guido Van Hal. European Journal of Public Health, 24(suppl_2), cku165-006. (7th European Public Health Conference Mind the gap: Reducing inequalities in health and health care Glasgow, 19-22 November 2014).
• Vanassche, S., Swicegood, G., & Matthijs, K. (2013). Marriage and children as a key to happiness? Cross-national differences in the effects of marital status and children on well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14(2), 501-524.
• Wallace, J. M. (2010). The contributions of spirituality and religious practices to children's happiness, Doctoral dissertation, Vancouver: University of British Columbia.
• White, L. K., Booth, A., & Edwards, J. N. (1986). Children and marital happiness: Why the negative correlation?. Journal of Family Issues, 7(2), 131-147.
• Wiking, M. (2018). Hygge: Danimarkalilarin mutluluk sirlari, (Ceviri: Medina Azadoglu), Istanbul: Pegasus Yayinlari.
• Yam, F. C. (2019). İlkokul 4. sinif ogrencilerinin mutlulukla ilgili goruslerinin degerlendirilmesi, 3rd Avrasya Pozitif Psikoloji Kongresi-Psikolojik İyi Olusun Kaynaklari, Istanbul: Uskudar Universitesi.
• Yam, F. C. (2020). Ilkokul dorduncu sinif ogrencilerinin mutlulukla ilgili dusuncelerinin degerlendirilmesi: Nitel bir calisma. e- Kafkas Egitim Arastirmalari Dergisi, 7, 262-281.