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- Creators: School of International Letters and Cultures
- Creators: School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Description
This project was generated out of a desire to understand and explore a novel twist on a well-traversed route to happiness. I set out looking for a new perspective on fulfillment and found sustainable, everyday joy through gratitude. In doing so, I created a space where a group of people could practice and share gratitude as a community. Gratitude is familiar to most as a feeling, but putting intention behind gratitude turns it into an action, and even a virtue. In fact, Roman philosopher Cicero says, "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others." I created a Facebook community called Marvel at The Ordinary (MATO) applying principles rooted in the Theory of Change to express this greatest virtue. I found both success and earnest support from others in this novel approach to current gratitude practices. Defined by Dr. Robert Emmons, an expert in the science of gratitude, practicing gratitude is a two-step process: "(1.) affirming goodness in one's life, and (2.) recognizing that the sources of this goodness lie at least partially outside of the self." There is substantial research touting the worth of gratitude journaling, in fact, few things have been more repeatedly and empirically vetted than the connection between gratitude and overall happiness and well-being. Yet there is one facet ubiquitously overlooked in current gratitude research: what happens when gratitude journaling is shared with others? With anecdotal evidence, short-form interview analysis, thematic analysis of journaling lexicon, and a case study on the growth and engagement of Marvel at The Ordinary as a social movement, there is reason to believe that a social media-based community centered around gratitude may support and even enhance the practice of gratitude, which is typically practiced in isolation. It was also found that communities of this sort are highly sought after, based on the engagement within and growth of the Facebook group from 50 to 600+ members in a period of 2 months. MATO set out with the aspirations of creating a community which encourages others to gratitude journal, raising awareness about gratitude journaling, and building a community which fosters empathy, optimism, and awareness in an everyday sense. In each of these goals, overwhelming success was found.
ContributorsMccawley, Kevin William (Author) / Mokwa, Michael (Thesis director) / Huerta, Mark (Committee member) / Micevic, Vid (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
As happiness research has begun to examine trends outside of Western countries, Latin America has been characterized as a challenging region to reconcile with global trends. However, some recent research has suggested that maybe happiness predictors in Latin America are more like those of fully industrialized nations in the West than originally thought. This thesis examines the case of two Latin American nations, Argentina and Chile, that closely resemble the economic and social realities of Western countries that have been thoroughly examined in the literature. I found that with a few exceptions, Argentine and Chilean happiness indicators resemble those of industrialized nations described in past studies . Additionally, this paper found that the most significant predictors of happiness were subjective assessments of personal health and satisfaction with one's financial status. In both countries, we also see an increase in levels of happiness over time.
ContributorsJones, Darby Niccole (Author) / Martin, Nathan (Thesis director) / Haglund, LaDawn (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
Managing a work-home balance is a daunting task for any parent. It is often difficult to take leave from work to care for one’s family due to financial barriers, which simultaneously poses a threat to family development. Although many countries have parental leave policies in place to account for this, effectiveness of these policies vary by country. This study aims to find to what extent parental leave has an impact on the quality of life. In this study, quality of life was investigated by the rank of the country on the Happiness Index and through the lens of achieving sustainable family development, which was subsequently described to be reflected by a country’s governmental resources provided during parental leave, as well as the country’s Gender Inequality Index. Through a cross-cultural review of literature, it was found that there seems to be an indirect, complex correlation of parental leave to the quality of life, and external factors such as sociocultural ideals, gender inequality, and varying workplace practices have greater significance on quality of life.
ContributorsMota, Urmi (Co-author) / Alam, Ramisa (Co-author) / SturtzSreetharan, Cindi (Thesis director) / Ruth, Alissa (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Ethnic groups experience different societal and economic circumstances that contribute to their well-being. Life satisfaction and happiness are commonly used as a measure of well-being; but they are not often used to evaluate well-being in lower income countries. This study focuses on the self-reported life satisfaction and happiness of members of ethnic groups from low- and middle-income countries and its correlation with ethnic privilege, gender opportunity, and income. Using two self-reported measures of well-being—life satisfaction and happiness—among 110,391 women in 27 countries (ages 15-49) surveyed in Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, this study examines how country-level indicators of gender opportunity, ethnic-level indicators of privilege and household-level measures of wealth are associated with well-being. Our findings indicate a significant relationship between ethnic privilege, gender opportunity and income on life satisfaction. The results from this study provide valuable data and implications for lower income countries to identify and reduce modifiable risk factors that affect a population’s well-being.
ContributorsChavez Lopez, Giselle (Co-author, Co-author) / Hruschka, Daniel (Thesis director) / Gonzales, Angela (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05