Self-Reported Happiness of Older Adults in an Assisted Living Facility: Effects of Being in Activities

Happiness is an important component of the quality of life of older people, but happiness is a construct, not a thing, and it is difficult to quantify. The present study examined the feasibility of having participants and observers quantify participants’ level of happiness by pointing to line drawings of faces depicting different emotions, like those commonly used to index pain. As hypothesized, results indicated that both participants and observers reported that participants were significantly happier when they were exposed to activities than when they were not. Scores recorded by participants showed a wider range of happiness and generally greater happiness than did scores recorded by observers. These results suggest that further research using this technique to measure happiness is warranted.