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Happiness and migration

Happiness among Portuguese and Indian adolescents from immigrant


families in Portugal

Félix Neto
&
Maria da Conceição Pinto
Universidade do Porto, Portugal

Running head: Happiness and migration

Address correspondence relating to this paper to Félix Neto, Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da

Educacão, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Manuel Pereira da Silva, 4200-392 Porto; email:

fneto@fpce.up.pt. This work was supported by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation,

Grant Nº PTDC/PSI/69887/2006. The authors are grateful to one anonymous reviewer for the thoughtful

comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

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Happiness and migration

Happiness among Portuguese and Indian adolescents from immigrant


families in Portugal

Abstract
This study examined the level of happiness among adolescents whose families are
from India, in comparison to Portuguese adolescents who did not go through an
acculturation process. It examined also if happiness can be predicted by demographic
and mental health factors. There were 542 adolescent participants. Three hundred and
sixty six were Portuguese and 175 belonged to families coming from India. The
participants completed the Oxford Happiness Inventory, the Revised UCLA Loneliness
Scale, the Satisfaction With Life Scale, and a short biographical form. The hypotheses
were partially supported. Indian adolescents from an immigrant background living in
Portugal showed more happiness than Portuguese adolescents. Psychological constructs
(self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and loneliness) were more important in the
prediction of happiness than the sociodemographic variables. With immigrant youth
showing good psychological adaptation, our study lends further support to several
studies from the United States, suggesting that immigrant children generally adapt well
and in some cases better than their national peers.

KEY-WORDS: adolescents, happiness, ethnocultural groups, mental health,


migration.

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Happiness and migration

Happiness among Portuguese and Indian adolescents from immigrant


families in Portugal

Migration has often been viewed as a highly stressful process and a number of

studies have explored its psychological impact by focusing on the prevalence of mental

illness in different immigrant groups (e.g., Cochrane, 1977; Rack, 1988). However,

such studies tend to define mental ill health in terms of admissions to psychiatric

hospitals, thus limiting the area of study to the more severe forms of psychological

distress.

Happiness, or subjective well-being, includes people’s evaluations of positive

affect, lack of negative affect and life satisfaction (Diener, Oishi, & Lucas, 2003). The

present study compares happiness of Indian adolescents from an immigrant background

living in Portugal and young Portuguese living in the same country without migratory

experience.

Happiness

It was not until comparatively recently that psychologists looked at the correlates,

definitions and predictors of happiness (Argyle, 2001; Eysenck, 1990). From a

theoretical perspective, Argyle and Crossland (1987) suggest that happiness comprises

three components: the frequency and degree of positive affect or joy; the average level

of satisfaction over a period; and the absence of negative feelings, such as depression

and anxiety. Working from this definition, they developed the Oxford Happiness

Inventory. The validation study (Argyle, Martin, & Crossland, 1989) of the Oxford

Happiness Inventory reported an internal reliability of 0.90 and a seven-week test/re-test

reliability of 0.78. Validity was established against happiness ratings by friends and by

correlations with measures of positive affect, negative affect and life satisfaction.

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Happiness and migration

A series of studies employing the Oxford Happiness Inventory has begun to map

the correlates of the operational definition of happiness (Argyle, Martin, & Lu, 1995).

For example, positive predictors of happiness have been identified as social competence

(Argyle & Lu, 1990), social skills and cooperativeness (Lu & Argyle, 1992) and

engagement in a serious leisure activity (Lu & Argyle, 1994). Lu and Argyle (1992)

found an inverse relationship between happiness and the total time spent watching

television. Other studies have reported significant relationships between happiness and

self-esteem (Lu & Argyle, 1991), coping styles (Rim, 1993) and religiosity (Robbins &

Francis, 1996).

Further evidence of the construct validity of the Oxford Happiness Inventory has

been provided by a cross-cultural study conducted in U.K., U.S.A, Australia and

Canada (Francis, Brown, Lester & Phillipchalk, 1998). This study has demonstrated that

happiness is correlated positively with extraversion, correlated negatively with

neuroticism, and uncorrelated with psychoticism. In another cross-cultural study,

extraversion is a positive correlate of happiness in Britain, China, and Japan (Furnham

& Cheng, 1999). In China and Britain, but not in Japan, neuroticism is a negative

predictor of happiness, while in Britain, psychoticism too plays a small part, being

negatively correlated with happiness.

Whereas a series of studies have already been conducted about the psychological

correlates of happiness (Argyle, 2001), the examination of the influence an immigrant

family background and the happiness of immigrants has been relatively neglected.

When immigrants are considering themselves members of different cultures and

recognizing the fact that the minorities can be targets of prejudice, certain questions can

emerge: can happiness fluctuate depending on the culture and the belonging to a

particular minority group? What characteristics promote happiness in the members of

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Happiness and migration

diverse cultures? In this article we will examine some answers to these questions

comparing the level of happiness of adolescents from Indian families with immigrant

background in Portugal to that of young Portuguese.

Indians in Portugal

At present Portugal is simultaneously an emigration and immigration country

(Neto & Mullet, 1998; Neto, 2008). If emigration in this country has an old tradition,

Portugal has recently become an immigration country. In 1498 Vasco da Gama arrived

in India. The Portuguese remained in India until 1961. After the integration of Goa,

Damao and Diu in the Indian Union, many Indians came to Portugal. A new wave from

Mozambique came immediately after decolonization (1974-75), but it was in the 80s

that thousands of immigrants from India established themselves in Portugal, mostly

originating from regions which were former Portuguese territories.

There are no current statistics on the number of people from India living in

Portugal. The Embassy of India in Portugal estimates the ethnic Indian community and

Indians in Portugal together would number approximately around 70, 000, including

seven thousand with Indian passports. According to the Center of the Department of

Immigration, Control and Tutors Documentary supplied by the Foreign Service (SEF),

there are currently 15 thousand Indians awaiting citizenship. Data for 2005 from Central

records, estimates that there are only 1623 Indian citizens authorized to reside and work

in Portugal, and 3353 with authorization to stay until 2010 as people who can live in the

country and pursue a work of subordinates, but do not have the freedom to travel in the

European Union. These are mostly concentrated in the Lisbon area.

There are four distinct communities (Hindus, Muslins, Ismaeliens, and Roman

Catholics of Goa). They differ not only in religion, but also by education: Goans have

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Happiness and migration

high educational and occupational standing compared with other groups. The Indian

community in Portugal specialize their activities (usually with a family) in retail trade of

products imported from the East, as well restaurants and other services marked by

ethnic origin. This community is well integrated in the country and has a low rate of

child delinquency and school failure (Pinto, 2004).

The Present Work

The purpose of this investigation was two-fold. The first objective was to examine

whether migration has an effect on happiness, thus in the present study we aimed to

compare happiness of young Indians living in Portugal to that of young Portuguese

living in the same country.

One basic question about bicultural individuals is whether they are confused

outsiders or special individuals with a broader understanding (Bhugra & Jones, 2001;

Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2006). Until recently, the dominant western view of

the multiethnic person was portrayed as troubled and anxious outsider who lacked a

clear identity (e.g., Nakashima, 1992). However, the results of recent empirical research

have indicated that multiethnic individuals are at no psychological disadvantage in

comparison to monoethnic individuals. Researchers have consistently found no

differences between self-esteem of multiethnic and monoethnic groups (Phinney &

Alipuria, 1996). Two studies have shown that young Portuguese living in France did not

differ on loneliness and satisfaction with life from young Portuguese who had never

migrated and were living in Portugal (Neto, 1995, 1999). The same could also be found

among children of Angolan, Cape-Verdean, and Indian immigrants who reside in

Portugal concerning satisfaction with life (Neto, 2001b).

Thus, the previously negative picture has been replaced by a more optimistic one.

Specifically, the contention is that whereas immigration and acculturation may

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Happiness and migration

inherently be risky and exacerbate one’s vulnerability to symptoms of maladaptation,

risks are in themselves not a destiny (Beiser et al., 1988). The immigrant group of

interest in this study are adolescents of second generation (born in receiving country, or

arriving before the age of 7). Focusing on adolescents instead of young children is

warranted because adolescents are in a better position to report on their own adaptation.

With younger children, mainly teacher or parent reports may have to be used.

In this paper, we compared the psychological adaptation of Indian adolescents

with immigrant background in Portugal with their host peers. We examined whether

happiness, as an indicator of psychological adaptation, of the second generation

immigrants “converges” toward that of the nationals. We do not expect to find

significant differences between the level of happiness of Indian adolescents with

immigrant background families to that of Portuguese adolescents.

The second aim was to examine if happiness can be predicted by demographic and

psychological variables. In this vein we examined whether there were differences in

happiness according to certain background characteristics, such as gender, religious

involvement, and being currently in love. Although female teenagers report more

negative affects, they also seem to have experienced greater joys, so that little difference

in global happiness is usually found between the genders (Diener, 1984; Neto, 2001a).

We therefore did not expect to find gender differences.

Religion and religious participation can be regarded as one of the domains of

happiness. Most studies on church attendance and participation in religious groups show

positive relations to well-being (Argyle, 2001). Argyle (2001) reported that religion

produces positive effects on subjective well-being, especially on existential well-being,

but also on general happiness, mental and physical health. Thus we expected to find that

religious involvement will show a positive influence on happiness.

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Happiness and migration

Several studies have found that relationships characterized by love are

experienced as being more happy (Argyle, 2001; Neto, 2005). Falling in love is for most

people a very positive experience. Thus we expect to find that participants being in love

feel happier than those not being currently in love.

Sociodemographic factors account for a small percentage of variance in happiness

(Diener et al., 1999). For example, Andrews & Withey (1976) gave a figure of less than

10% of the variance in subjective well-being accounted for by demographic factors.

Thus it is important to examine other factors related to happiness, and we will consider

also the link between happiness and other mental health constructs: self-esteem,

satisfaction with life, and loneliness. Self-esteem refers to the affective valence

attributed to the self. In Western cultures self-esteem is a factor associated with high

levels of subjective well-being (Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999). Satisfaction with

life refers to an overall assessment of an individual’s quality of life according to his

chosen criteria. Judgments are based on a comparison with a standard which each

subject sets for him/herself. Loneliness has been conceptualized as an individual’s

dissatisfaction with social relationships accompanied by a negative psychological state

(Peplau & Perlman, 1982). Unhappiness seems to be related to the quality of or social

relationships. The research suggests that loneliness is associated with different affective

states as being unhappy (Fischer & Philips, 1982; Neto, 2001a). These three variables

are closely related to the three components of happiness: self-esteem is related to

frequency and degree of positive affect; satisfaction with life is related to the level of

satisfaction; and loneliness is related to the absence of negative feelings. These negative

feelings are closely related to neuroticism which has been found to be correlated with

happiness (Furnham & Cheng, 1999).

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Happiness and migration

In summary, in this study we set out to explore both the level of happiness among

adolescents with immigrant background and its predictors. Specifically, on the basis of

theory and existing evidence, the following hypotheses were tested:

Hypothesis 1 – We hypothesized that happiness scores of adolescents from Indian

immigrant background living in Portugal will be similar those of the Portuguese

adolescents living in the same country.

Hypothesis 2 – It is expected that religious involvement and love status will

influence the level of happiness, but gender will not influence it.

Hypothesis 3- We hypothesized a positive correlation between scores for

happiness and self-esteem and satisfaction with life, and a negative correlation between

happiness and loneliness.

Hypothesis 4 – It is expected that mental health factors including self-esteem,

satisfaction with life and loneliness will account for the larger part of the explained

variance in happiness than demographic factors.

METHOD

Participants

The participants were 541 students (257 males and 284 females), aged 16 to 19 (M

age 17.6 yr., SD = 1.19), who were enrolled in high education school in the Lisbon area.

Three hundred and sixty six (166 males and 200 females) were Portuguese and 175 (91

males and 84 females) were Indian from immigrant families (Table 1). The

ethnocultural groups were not significantly associated with gender (X2=.15, df=1,

p>.05).

Insert Table 1 about here

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Happiness and migration

Material

All participants were administered the Portuguese versions of The Oxford

Happiness Inventory (Argyle, Martin, & Crossland, 1989; Neto, 2001a), the Revised

UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980; Neto, 1992) and the

Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (Diener et al.,1985; Neto, 1993a, 2002). These

three scales have been previously adapted for the Portuguese population. In designing

these versions, the guidelines proposed in the literature on cross-cultural methodology

were followed (Brislin, 1986): independent/blind/back translation, education translation,

and small-scale pre-tests.

After completion of the three scales, participants were requested to complete a

short biographical form. Beyond asking the sex, age, religion, and ethnicity, other

questions were asked such as, if the participants were currently in love. Also included

was one item as a measure of self-esteem: "the way I feel about myself generally is "

(Hendrick, & Hendrick, 1988; Neto, 1993b). This item had appropriately labelled 5-

response alternatives. Is this a validated measure of self-esteem?

Procedure

Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire in the school environment. It

took about 30 min to complete. Authorization from administrative bodies and parents,

and consent from the adolescents were obtained before the questionnaires were

administered. The confidentiality was stressed and the response rate was above 95%.

RESULTS

The internal consistency coefficient of the Oxford Happiness Inventory was .91

for the Indian sample and also .91 for the Portuguese sample. The internal consistency

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Happiness and migration

coefficient of the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale was .85 for the Indian sample and

.83 for the Portuguese sample. The internal consistency coefficient of the Life

Satisfaction Scale was .85 for the Indian sample and also .85 for the Portuguese sample.

Thus the internal consistency of the scales seem adequate for both ethnocultural groups.

Background Variables and Happiness

A number of specific questions pertaining to the participants’ background were

included to assess in an orderly way some of the potential suppositions about how

happiness functions. The approach used treated each background variable as an

independent variable, using participants’ sum scores on happiness scale as dependent

variable. One-way analyses of variance were performed on the data.

The means and F ratio for OHI are shown in Table 2 for several background

variables. The F ratio for each one-way analysis is shown at the top of the relevant

column of means.

Ethnocultural group. There were ethnocultural group differences on happiness

F(1, 540)=5.95, p<.05, η2 =.01. Indian adolescents scored higher on happiness (M=41.7)

than Portuguese adolescents who did not go through an acculturation process (M=38.8).

These findings did not support our first hypothesis.

Gender. There were gender differences on happiness, F(1, 540)=12.77, p<.001,

η2=.02. Males scored higher on happiness (M=41.9) than females (M=37.9).

Religious involvement. There were religious involvement differences on

happiness (F(2, 536)=9.21, p<.001, η2=.03). The believers/regular attendees (M=41.8)

and the believers/nonattendees (M=38.8) showed more happiness than the

nonbelievers/nonattendees (M=35.6).

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Currently in love. There was a significant effect of being in love now on happiness

F(1, 537)=4.90, p<.05, η2=.01. Clearly, participants “in love now” were happier

(M=40.6) than those “not in love now” (M=37.9).

Insert Table 2 about here

The Relationships between Happiness and Mental Health Variables

As can be seen in Table 3 for both ethnocultural groups the correlations between

happiness, and satisfaction with life and self-esteem were significant and positive, and

the correlation between happiness, and loneliness was also significant in a negative

direction. These findings are in line with hypothesis 3.

Insert Table 3 about here

To ascertain the contributions of demographic and psychological factors,

sequential multiple regressions were performed, where demographic factors (gender,

religious involvement, and love status) were first introduced in the model (in Step 1)

and then the psychological characteristics (self-esteem, satisfaction with life, and

loneliness) (in the Step 2). Because of differences in the degree of happiness among the

ethnocultural groups, happiness was regressed separately for Indian and Portuguese

participants. This was done in order to see whether there were differences in factors

accounting for happiness among the different ethnocultural groups (Table 4). The

combined explained variance following the introduction of the demographic factors was

4% for the Indian adolescents and 5% for the Portuguese adolescents. For the Indian

adolescents only gender contributed significantly to the model and for the Portuguese

adolescents religious involvement and gender contributed significantly to the model. On

introducing the psychological factors, the explained variance increased to 41% for both

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samples. For Indian adolescents there were two factors that contributed significantly to

the model: self-esteem and satisfaction with life. For Portuguese adolescents there were

five factors that contributed significantly to the model: satisfaction with life, self-

esteem, loneliness, love status, and gender.

Insert Table 4 about here

DISCUSSION

This study explored the degree of happiness among adolescents with Indian

immigrant families in comparison to Portuguese adolescents who did not go through an

acculturation process, and the factors that may be related to the level of happiness

among them. Four hypotheses were put forward, and these were partially supported.

Before presenting the findings, they should be interpreted cautiously since our

conclusions are bound by several limitations in our data. First, the basic design of

investigation consisted of cross-sectional sampling of the population. A different

shortcoming concerns generalisations of these results to settings culturally different

from ours; they should proceed cautiously. The roles of acculturation factors may vary

in other contexts (Berry et al., 2006). However the results of this study replicate earlier

findings and demonstrate some of the wide network of background and psychological

variables in which happiness is embedded.

Using national youth as our comparison group, our results indicated that Indian

immigrant youth as a group were happier than their national peers. In other words,

immigrant youth appeared to be better adapted psychologically. In agreement with some

studies (e.g., Neto, 1995; 1999; 2002; Phinney and Alipuria, 1996) we found that

multiethnic adolescents were not at a psychological disadvantage because of their ethnic

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origin. Adolescents whose families were from India living in Portugal had not shown

lower levels of happiness in relation to the young Portuguese who had always lived in

the country. On the contrary, young Indians with immigrant background families were

found to be happier than young Portuguese. Therefore, the notion that the geographic

mobility of the parents is a basic cause of the psychological maladjustment in their

children seems to be incorrect. These results are in agreement with the conclusion that

the majority of immigrants adapt well in host societies, despite the difficulties that they

may find in the cultural changes and the fact of living in the confluence of two or more

cultures (Berry, 1997).

A possible explanation for this finding may be related to a supportive network of

relationships stressed by Indian culture. As Myers and Diener (1995) have noted: happy

individuals not only have specific traits but also have strong relationships. Two aspects

of social network family (relationships with parents) and school (peer relations and

school performance) have been found by various studies to be important to young

people’s mental well-being and social adjustment (Argyle, 2001). Many researchers like

Herz and Gullone (1999) argue that the quality of the parent-child relationship has a

significant impact on the long-term confidence, resilience and well-being of individuals.

Our study lacked information on such family processes and in the absence of such

information, we could not control their potential effects.

Our second hypothesis was partially supported. It is unclear why we found a

gender difference in happiness, namely that boys were happier than girls in both

ethnocultural groups. This finding is not in line with previous studies among migrants’

second generation nor in accordance with findings among adults (Imamoglu et al.,

1993; Warr and Payne, 1992). Although female teenagers reported more negative

affects, they also seemed to have experienced greater joys, so that little difference in

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global happiness or satisfaction was usually found between the genders. Diener (1984)

reported only two studies where a modest interaction with age was found. However, it

has previously been found that in Portugal male teenagers have higher mean scores on

satisfaction with life than the female teenagers (Neto, 1993a). Future research must

clarify the reasons of this gender difference in the Portuguese context.

The relation expected to be found between religious involvement and happiness

could be supported. The believers/regular attendees and the believers/nonattendees

showed more happiness than the nonbelievers/nonattendees. Therefore it could be

confirmed in accord with diverse research (Argyle, 2001) that religiosity was linked

positively with happiness. People involved in religion may be happier than others for

many reasons. Three factors have been given serious consideration within psychology

(Argyle, 2000). First, religion provides a coherent belief system that allows people to

find meaning in life and hope for the future. Religious belief systems allow people to

make sense of the adversities, stresses and inevitable losses which occur over the course

of the life cycle and to be optimistic about an afterlife in which these difficulties will be

resolved. Second, involvement in routine attendance at religious services and being part

of a religious community provides people with social support. Third, involvement in

religion is often associated with a physically and psychologically healthier lifestyle

characterized by prosocial altruistic behaviours (rather than criminality), moderation in

eating and drinking, and a commitment to hard work.

Participants who were in love at present were happier than were participants who

were not in love. Lovers really do wear rose-coloured glasses (Hendrick & Hendrick,

1988; Neto & Pinto, 2003). Whether someone is in love or not appears to affect

happiness among young people.

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The data supported the expected relationship between happiness and mental health

measures. A significant association has been found with the frequency and the degree of

positive affect, such as self-esteem and the level of satisfaction over a period, such as

satisfaction with life, and the absence of negative feelings, such as loneliness. The

strongest predictors of happiness were self-esteem and satisfaction.

The fourth hypothesis was also supported by the data. Our regression models

indicated that about 41% of the explained variance of happiness could be accounted for

by the combined demographic and psychological factors. Less than 6% of the explained

variance could be attributed to demographic factors. Thus, the demographic variables,

as could be expected, accounted for a small percentage of variance in happiness. In fact,

Andrews and Withey (1976) gave a figure of less than 10% of the variance in subjective

well-being accounted for by all the demographics they assessed. In this vein Diener

(1984) concluded that taken together, demographic variables probably do not account

for much more than 15% of the variance. Neto (1995, 2001b) and Sam (1998) also

found that demographic factors were less relevant to the understanding of life

satisfaction than personal factors. Thus, as far as happiness is concerned, it is rather

more important to have an early intervention to improve one's happiness at

psychological factors, which are more amenable to change, than at demographic factors,

because many of them do not readily allow themselves for change.

The strongest related factors of happiness when demographic factors were

combined with mental health factors were self-esteem and satisfaction with life. The

adaptation to a new cultural context can involve a lot of challenges. If one feels a sense

of self-worth, one’s sense of happiness improves. The fact that persons with a high level

of self-esteem have higher feelings of happiness is consistent with earlier studies (Neto,

1995; Sam, 1998). Many previous studies show that self-esteem is a major factor of

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happiness, especially in an individualistic society (e.g. Diener et al., 1999). A practical

consequence of this finding is that helping adolescents of immigrant background to

develop a better sense of self-worth may improve the global assessment of happiness.

With immigrant youth showing good psychological adaptation, our study lends

further support to several studies from the United States, suggesting that immigrant

children generally adapt well and in some cases better than their national peers (Fuligni,

1998).

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Happiness and migration

Table 1
Description of the sample by ethnocultural group, age, and gender

Ethnocultural Total of the Gender Age


group sample

Males Females M SD

India 175 91 84 17.57 1.24

Portugal 366 166 200 17.58 1.17

Total 541 257 284 17.58 1.19

Table 2 Means and F ratio for happiness as a function of selected


background variables
______________________________________________________________________
Variable N Happiness
______________________________________________________________________
Ethnocultural group F=5.95*
Indian 175 41.7a
Portuguese 366 38.8b

Gender F=12.77***
Males 175 41.9a
Females 684 37.9b

Religion involvement F=9.21***


Believers/regular attendees 239 41.8a
Believers/non attendees 187 38.8a
Non believers/non attendees 115 35.6b

Are you in love now? F=4.9*


Yes 367 40.6a
No 172 37.9b
*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001.
For each variable with means with no subscripts in common differed at the 0.05 level,
either by F test directly for a pair of means or by Scheffe test for three means.

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Happiness and migration

Table 3 Correlations between mental health measures and happiness by


ethnocultural group

Happiness
Indian Portuguese
Loneliness -.15* -.29***
Satisfaction with life .43*** .53***
Self-esteem .57*** .52***
*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001.

Table 4 Multiple Regression Analyses of Variables Predicting Happiness among


Ethnocultural Groups

Predictor Variables R R2 Beta t

Indians
Demographic predictors (Stepwise)
1. Gender .20 .04 -.20 -2.72**

Demographic and psychological well-being predictors (Stepwise)


1. Self-esteem .57 .33 .57 .9.16***
2. Satisfaction with life .64 .41 .30 4.89***

Portuguese
Demographic predictors (Stepwise)
1. Religious involvement .18 .03 -.18 -3.39**
2. Gender .22 .05 -.14 -2.72**

Demographic and psychological well-being predictors (Stepwise)


1. Satisfaction with life .53 .28 .53 11.88***
2. Self-esteem .62 .38 .35 7.56***
3. Loneliness .63 .39 -.12 -2.71**
4. Love status .63 .40 -.10 -2.39*
5. Gender .64 .41 -.10 -2.31*
____________________________________________________________________
*p<0.05; ** p<0.01; p<0.001. The beta and t values are for the step at which the
variables entered.

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