Five hundred ethnically diverse undergraduates reported their
happiness strategies – that is, activities undertaken to maintain
or increase happiness. Factor analysis extracted eight general
strategies: Affiliation, Partying, Mental Control, Goal Pursuit,
Passive Leisure, Active Leisure, Religion, and Direct Attempts at
happiness. According to multiple regression analyses, these
strategies accounted for 52% of the variance in self-reported
happiness and 16% over and above the variance accounted for by the
Big Five personality traits. The strongest unique predictors of
current happiness were Mental Control (inversely related), Direct
Attempts, Affiliation, Religion, Partying, and Active Leisure.
Gender differences suggest that men prefer to engage in Active
Leisure and Mental Control, whereas women favor Affiliation, Goal
Pursuit, Passive Leisure, and Religion. Relative to Asian and
Chicano(a) students, White students preferred using high arousal
strategies. Finally, mediation analyses revealed that many
associations between individuals’ personality and happiness levels
are to some extent mediated by the strategies they use to increase
their happiness – particularly, by Affiliation, Mental Control, and
Direct Attempts.
