The effect of happiness on mental health and life satisfaction: A psychological model of well-being

Background: Positive Psychology Approach is the manifestation of changes in psychology, from dealing with psychopathological damages to optimizing life quality. Happiness, a subset of the positive psychology, is considered to be a positive characteristic and one of human’s psychological needs. During the past decade, happiness has occupied a special place in the field of developmental psychology, family psychology and mental health. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of happiness on enhancing mental health and life satisfaction.

Methods: In this cross-sectional-descriptive study, from Ramshir Education Centers 178 teachers (86 males and 92 females), selected via randomized cluster sampling. The participants’ mean and standard deviation of age were 32/16 and 5/70 respectively. All selected subjects completed Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) and Demographic Inventory. Moreover, Stepwise Multiple Regression Analysis was used for statistical analysis. 

Results: Results of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis represented a significant intermediate role of mental health in the relationship between happiness (p<0/001) and life satisfaction (p<0/001). Also the findings of study demonstrated the effect of happiness on enhancing mental health and life satisfaction.

Conclusion: Happiness positively affects life satisfaction through increasing mental health. Moreover, happiness has an indirect effect on life satisfaction.