Adway S.

Wadekar
Sarah W. Gibbons Middle School
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

I like to read politics, the news, and U.S. History. Recently, in my Social Studies class we

finished analyzing the Constitution [1] and Declaration of Independence [2], and I came across

the famous quote about life and happiness, namely, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness!

It got me thinking that although the Declaration of Independence protects our freedom to pursue

happiness as we please, people do not universally agree on what makes them happy. As a result,

happiness is totally subjective and elusive but very much sought after. In fact, for most people,

finding happiness is their lifes main goal. I see, people all around me, engaging in a wide array

of activities that I presume make them happy. Some people pursue challenges that promote their

personal growth, for example, running a marathon, or publishing a book or an article. Some folks

find happiness in climbing the professional ladder such as seeking a promotion at their work

place. Many others invest in family and relationships, others may choose to find joy and meaning

in service. The pursuit of happiness thus takes varied forms and involves many activities that

lead to significant milestones or life events along each individuals chosen journey. Upon

reaching these milestones along each path, however, we may not feel as happy as we thought we

might. Many times, people are asked to rate the happiness levels they experienced in the range of

1-10. Therefore, the central theme of my project is to understand and compare how different life

events affect the levels of happiness felt by people.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

My main goal is to find out how different life events influenced the happiness levels felt

by people. I formulated two research objectives to explore this goal. The first one is:
 R1: On an average, do different types of life events bring us similar levels of

happiness?

Average happiness levels, however, may not provide the complete picture. This is

because even when life events X and Y have close average happiness levels, life event Xs

distribution across levels 1 through 10 may be very skewed, while the distribution of happiness

levels for life event Y may be very homogeneous. A homogeneous distribution means that the

percentage of people is spread out evenly across all the happiness levels, whereas in a skewed

distribution the percentage of people is concentrated in a few happiness levels. Therefore, I

formulated my second hypothesis as:

R2: Is there a consensus about the levels of happiness that people draw from life

events in different groups?

Ultimately, I hope that the understanding gathered by exploring the two objectives will

identify opportunities to invest in social policies and programs that will help people in their

individual pursuits, and hence, improve their quality of life.

LIFE EVENTS SURVEY

To explore these research objectives, I had to look for a data set that will allow

me to compare numerically the different levels of happiness felt by people for various life events.

I came across the life events survey data [3] collected by the myPersonality project [4]. The life

events survey was administered by the myPersonality project via Facebook between August

2010 and May 2012. Respondents were asked to rate 25 significant life events, they rated how

happy each life event made them on a scale of 1 through 10. These life events are listed in Table

1. Consent was obtained by the myPersonality app before respondents completed the survey.
There were a total of 10,053 responses, and if a respondent did not rate a life event, it was

indicated by -1. All the respondents were from the United Kingdom. Respondents were given the

following instructions in the questionnaire:

In this part of the questionnaire we would like to know about some of the significant

events that have happened in your life and how they might have affected your happiness. Tick the

box to tell us how long ago the event happened to you and tell us how happy that event made you

on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is very unhappy and 10 is very happy. If the event did not happen

to you, you can leave this blank.

In order to conduct my research, I classified the life events into four groups. These four

groups were inspired by a paper by Clark and Oswald that estimates the compensating amounts

or economic impact of different life events on human well-being [5]. In my case, the four groups

reflect the different avenues or dimensions along which people may choose to pursue happiness,

and the milestones reached along the way. I note that this classification of events is not unique,

and any event may fit into a different or more than one category. For example, competing or

serving your country could fall into Service category, but I chose to include it in the Personal

Growth category. Similarly, retiring could fall into either Personal Growth, or Professional

Accomplishments or Family Relationships. I chose this grouping to somewhat balance the

number of events in each category. This classification of events is shown in Table 2.

 Table 1: Life Events in the Survey

No. Life Event

1. First Child
2. Getting Married
3. Promotion at Work
4. Finishing School
5. A Sporting Win
6. Retiring
7. Dream Holiday
8. Losing Weight
9. Moving House
10. Getting Engaged
11. First Grandchild
12. Getting a New Job
13. Becoming Your Own Boss
14. Cosmetic Surgery
15. Learning to Ride a Bicycle
16. Graduating University
17. First Marathon
18. Learning to Drive
19. Stop Smoking
20. Getting Divorced
21. Publishing a Book/Article
22. Serving/Competing for Your Country
23. Buying your Dream Car
24. A New Pet
25. Children Leaving Home
 Table 2: Classification of Life Events

Event Type Specific Events

Family/Relationships
Personal Growth
Professional
Accomplishments
Recreational
1. First Child, 2. Getting Married, 3. Getting Engaged, 4. First
Grandchild, 5. Getting Divorced, 6. Children Leaving Home, 7. Moving
Houses
8. Finishing School, 9. Losing Weight, 10. Graduating University, 11.
Learning to Drive, 12. Learning to Ride Bicycle, 13. First Marathon, 14.
Stopping Smoking, 15. Publishing A Book or Article, 16. Sporting Win,
17. Buying A Dream Car, 18. Serving or Competing for Country
19. Promotion at Work, 20. Getting a New Job, 21. Becoming Your Own
Boss, 22. Retiring
23. Cosmetic Surgery, 24. Dream Holiday, 25. A New Pet

MATERIALS AND RESOURCES:

Life Events Survey data hosted on the myPersonality wiki page.

Microsoft Excel and R for analyzing the data.

Microsoft Word and Google Docs for writing the lab report.

Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Sheets for making the slides for the trifold.

Code Generator for Word, to comment and format the code to include it in the report.

ANALYSIS PROCEDURE

To conduct my analysis, I explored many general purpose programming languages such as Java

[6] and C [7]. I also explored specialized data processing and analysis tools such as R [8] and

Matlab [9]. I found that the data analysis tools such as R and Matlab offer many convenient and

efficient data processing and data handling capabilities. The two most important aspects from my

point of view were the capability to read and store csv data files and perform calculations on all

the elements stored in one row or one column of a table at once, with a single command.
Therefore, I narrowed the choice down to R and Matlab. In the end, I chose R because it was

public domain and free to use. I also noticed that the stack overflow user community [10] for R

is very active and they helped me a lot when I ran into problems. The R code for the analysis of

both research objectives is included in Appendix I.

Research Objective #1: Average Happiness

My first research objective was to explore whether people draw similar average

happiness levels from life events belonging to different groups. To explore this objective, for

each life event, I computed the average happiness levels. Even if the total number of respondents

is 10053, all respondents did not rate did not rate all life events. Whenever a life event had not

occurred to a respondent, the respondent rated that as a -1. So, each life event had some missing

responses indicated by a -1. To compute the average happiness levels for each life event, I

eliminated the missing responses, added up all the happiness levels, and divided the total

happiness levels by the total number of valid responses.

Research Question #2: Consensus on Distributions of Happiness

In the second research objective, I explored whether there is a consensus on the levels of

happiness that people draw from life events in different groups. For example, I wanted to know if

the percentage of respondents that rated life event X with a level of 2 is similar to the percentage

of respondents that rated life event Y with a score of 2. I wanted to compare these distributions

for all the levels 1-10. First, I visually explored and compared the distributions for some pairs of

life events. These four pairs of comparisons are shown below. From plot I in the figure, I could

tell that the distributions of becoming your own boss and buying your dream car are very similar

to each other. But the distributions of learning to ride a bicycle and children leaving home in plot

II are very different. The distributions of event pairs first child vs. getting married and moving
house vs. learning to drive in plots III and IV are not completely similar but not completely

similar either.

0.35 0.35
Own Boss vs. Dream Car Learning to Bike vs. Children Leaving
0.3 0.3

0.25 Own Boss 0.25

Learning to Bike
Probability

0.2 Dream Car

Probability
0.2 Children Leaving Home
0.15
0.15
0.1
0.1
0.05
0.05
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0
Happiness Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Happiness Score

I II
0.45 0.4
0.4
First Child vs. Getting Married Moving House vs. Learning to Drive
0.35
0.35 0.3
0.3
0.25
Probability

Probability
Moving House
0.25 First Child
0.2 Learning to Drive
0.2 Getting Married
0.15
0.15
0.1 0.1

0.05 0.05
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Happiness Score Happiness Score

III IV

Comparing the distributions using histograms gives some idea of how similar the

distributions are. But, this visual approach is not scientifically accurate. Moreover, with this

approach I cannot compare between pairs of life events. Finally, there are 25 life events, and
25
hence, C2 combinations or 300 pairs of life events. To compare these 300 combinations

visually and manually will be tedious. So, I looked for a way to formalize the notion of similarity

between the distributions. I found Hellinger distance [11] to measure this similarity. For two

discrete distributions P and Q, Hellinger distance is defined as:

1
(, ) = ( )2
2 =1

In a discrete distribution, there are a limited number of values and each value is

associated with a probability. In our case, the values are the happiness levels from 1 through 10,
and the probabilities are the percentage of respondents for each levels. In the above equation pis

are the probabilities of happiness levels 1 through 10 for life event X, and qis are the

probabilities of happiness levels 1 through 10 for life event Y. In the extreme case, say when for

life event X distribution P assigns the probability of 1 to level 10 and 0 to all others, and for life

event Y distribution Q assigns the probability 0 to all levels and 1 to level 1, Hellinger distance

takes the maximum value of 2. Therefore, the denominator normalizes the Hellinger distance

over the range 0 to 1. I came across Hellinger distance while doing some search on comparing

the distributions presented as histograms. I found that it is used to compare two documents

according to the frequencies of different words that occur in them [13]. Table 3 shows an

example of distributions of happiness levels for two life events, namely, first child and children

leaving home, and also the calculation of Hellinger distance for these two life events.

Table 3 Example of Hellinger Distance Calculation

Happiness Level First Child ( ) Children Leaving ( ) ( )2

1 0.0775 0.1715 0.0184
2 0.0108 0.0322 0.0057
3 0.0228 0.0676 0.0118
4 0.0217 0.0547 0.0074
5 0.0975 0.2874 0.0501
6 0.0281 0.0571 0.0051
7 0.0414 0.0418 0.0000
8 0.0694 0.0346 0.0060
9 0.0537 0.0362 0.0017
10 0.5767 0.2165 0.0865
10

( )2 = 0.1922
=1

(, ) = 0.3106
 I programmed in R to compute Hellinger distance 300 times, the lowest was 0.037 and

the highest was 0.418. Based on Hellinger distance, I explored pairs that are very similar and

very dissimilar.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

Research Objective #1: Average Happiness

I found that the average happiness of all the 25 life events varies over a narrow range

from 5.5 to 8.1. This narrow variation suggests that people may pursue very different activities

but draw fairly similar levels of average happiness from these activities. Moreover, with the

lowest score of 5.5, there is no life event in this data set that makes people completely unhappy.

I divided the life events into four groups according to the happiness levels for further

analysis. In the first group, I included events with an average happiness level of greater than 7.5,

and named this category as Mostly Joyous. Most respondents thought that the events in this

category made them very happy, and these events received only very few unhappy ratings. In the

second group, I included events with average happiness levels between 7.00 and 7.5, and

designated this as Joy with Reservations group. Many respondents felt that that the events in

this category made them happy, but the number and values of happiness levels were lower

compared to the topmost group. Also, the events in this group received a higher number of

unhappy ratings compared to those in the first group. I formed the third group with events with

an average happiness levels between 6.5 and 7.0, and designated this group as the Mixed

Feelings group. Events in this category received a moderate number of happy ratings, but lower

happiness levels. They also received a sizeable number of unhappy ratings. Finally, in the fourth
group, I included events with average happiness levels less than 6.5, and designated this as the

Bittersweet group. Events in this group received far fewer happy ratings, happiness levels were

lower, and were nearly balanced by unhappy ratings as well. These four groups, their

descriptions, and their average happiness levels are summarized in Table 4.

Table 4: Event Groups According to Happiness Levels

Avg. score Group Name Group Description

> 7.5 Mostly Joyous Most respondents rated these events as very happy, only
very few rated them unhappy.
7.0-7.5 Joy w Reservations Many respondents rated these events as happy, but a high
number also rated them as unhappy. The actual ratings may
be lower than the first group.
6.5-7.0 Mixed Feelings Moderate number of happy ratings, but lower happiness
levels and sizeable unhappy ratings.
< 6.5 Bittersweet Lower number and smaller happiness levels, many balanced
by unhappy ratings.

The group of events that belonged to the Mostly Joyous category included those where

people experienced a new thrill, or a new sense of freedom, or total fun and indulgence. For

example, the birth of a first child or engagement is included in this group. At these occasions,

people embark on a new journey, but have little to no anticipation for what lies ahead. Similarly,

learning to drive and learning to ride a bike brings a sense of freedom at young adults and

children respectively. Finally, on a dream holiday people usually indulge themselves into exotic

experiences. It is important to note that no professional accomplishment rises to the mostly

joyous group. About the events in the Joy with Reservations group, people mostly felt joy but

with some hesitation. Here the happiness may be tempered by a sense of responsibility, effort, or

sacrifice. For example, a promotion or a new job may be accompanied by a hesitation about
higher expectations. Or there may be some joy in a sporting win or in losing weight but people

may think of the effort that they may have to put in. Similarly, people may feel conflicted about

cosmetic surgery after they have undergone the procedure. For events in the Mixed Feelings

group, happiness mostly came from a sense of achievement but people were perhaps immensely

aware of the commitment necessary to achieve a goal. These included first marathon,

representing or serving country, or buying a dream car. For example, there may be a sense of

pride in becoming your own boss but there may also be apprehension because now they have no

one to rely on but themselves. Finally, events in the Bittersweet group included moving

houses, retiring, and children leaving home. In these events, unhappiness may be caused by the

end of a productive phase, but the fact that they have reached that far may be uplifting. Table 5

shows the grouping of events according to average happiness levels.

Table 5: Grouping of Events According to Average Happiness Levels

Avg. Happiness Family/ Personal Professional Recreation/

Score Relationships Growth/Success Accomplishments Enjoyment
Mostly Joyous First Child, Finishing School, New Pet,
(> 7.5) Getting Engaged Learning Drive, Dream Holiday
Learning Bike
Joy w Getting Married A Sporting Win, Promotion at Cosmetic
Reservations First Grandchild Losing Weight Work, Surgery
(7.00 7.5) Graduating Univ. Getting a New
Quit Smoking, Job
Publishing
Mixed Feelings Getting Divorced First Marathon, Becoming Your
(6.5-7.00) Serving Country, Own Boss
Getting a Dream
Car
Bittersweet Moving House, Retiring
(< 6.5) Children Leaving
Home
Research Objective #2:

I split life event pairs based on Hellinger distance, if the distance was less than 0.08, I

considered them to be very similar. In this very similar category, most pairs are comprised of

individual (personal and professional) events. The only pairs of family events that appeared in

this category are getting married and getting engaged, and it is easy to see how these two events

that are related to each other cause people to agree on how they feel. Finally, retiring and

children leaving home are also similar because both mark the end of an important productive

chapter, and the start of a less hectic life. If the Hellinger distance between pairs of life events

was greater than 0.35, I labeled the pairs as very dissimilar. It is very telling that in all the pairs

of dissimilar life events, one event is either retiring or children leaving home. Thus, these two

events generate very different happiness levels compared to other professional and personal

accomplishments. Table 5 shows the grouping of very similar and very dissimilar pairs of life

events according to their Hellinger distances.

CONCLUSIONS & SOCIAL POLICY

I summarize my key observations. People draw average similar levels of happiness from

the widely different activities that they undertake in their pursuit of happiness. I found that there

was a higher consensus about the different levels of happiness from individual pursuits compared

to family oriented activities. Finally, retiring and children leaving home cause feelings that are

very different compared to other life events.

From the above observations, it seems like people draw happiness from individual goals

and accomplishments. Therefore, institutions and organizations may wish to support individuals

in these pursuits, such as running a marathon or publishing a book, even though it may be
outside the institutions norms. Second, although there are many support groups available to ease

the grieving process after retirement and after children leave home, local communities could

actively seek to connect retirees to opportunities such as volunteering and new business ventures

that re-introduces meaning into their lives.

LESSONS LEARNED

I did not collect my own data (primary data), but instead used a secondary data set, which

was collected by someone else. The use of secondary data was inexpensive, convenient, and also

it provided me access to a larger amount of data. However, the data set did not have information

about the age, gender, geography and other attributes of the respondents. As a result, I could not

consider the impact of these characteristics on the happiness levels felt by people.

FUTURE WORK

I realize that my conclusions may be misleading because there could be

overrepresentation of one type of people (gender, age, geography). Therefore, in the future, I

would like to understand whether these observations hold across gender, age, and geography. I

would like to study how the perception of happiness for these life events changes with elapsed

time.
 Table 6: Pairs of Life Events with Similar and Dissimilar Happiness Distributions

Hellinger Distance Pairs of Life Events

(, ) 0.09 (Finishing School, Losing Weight),
Very Similar (Sporting Win, Getting a New Job),
(Losing Weight, Getting a New Job),
(Becoming Your Own Boss, Buying A Dream Car),
(Learning to Ride Bicycle, Getting a New Pet),
(Graduating University, Getting a Dream Car),
(Learning to Drive, A New Pet)
(Getting Married, Getting Engaged),
(Retiring, Children Leaving Home)
(, ) 0.35 (Children Leaving Home, A Sporting Win),
Very Dissimilar (Retiring, Learning to Ride Bicycle),
(Retiring, A New Pet),
(Children Leaving Home, Dream Holiday),
(Children Leaving Home, Getting A New Job),
(Children Leaving Home, Learning to Ride Bicycle),
(Children Leaving Home, Learning to Drive),
(Children Leaving Home, A New Pet)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Prof. Michal Kosinski of Stanford Graduate School of Business for

giving me access to the data from the myPersonality project. I would also to thank Mrs. Lisa

Greenwald from Gibbons Middle School for all her help and support during this project. I

acknowledge Stack Overflow user community which helped with many R problems.
REFERENCES

1. Constitution for the United States We the People (1776), http://constitutionus.com/.

2. Declaration of Independence, U.S. (1776), http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
3. http://mypersonality.org/wiki/doku.php?id=life_events
4. http://mypersonality.org/wiki/doku.php
5. A. E. Clark and A. J. Oswald, A simple statistical method for measuring how life events affect
happiness, International Journal of Epidemiology, pages 1139-1144, December 2002.
6. https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-java
7. http://www.cprogramming.com/
8. The R Project for Statistical Computing, https://www.r-project.org/
9. The Language of Technical Computing, https://www.mathworks.com/products/matlab.html
10. Stack Overflow, https://stackoverflow.com/
11. M. S. Nikulin, Hellinger distance, in Hazewinkel, Michiel, Encyclopedia of Mathematics,
Springer, 2001.
12. Chris Madden, http://www.chrismadden.co.uk/cartoon-gallery/happiness-cartoon-the-pursuit-
of-happiness/
13. Integrated Knowledge Solutions, From Data to Decisions,
https://iksinc.wordpress.com/tag/hellinger-distance/, June 2015.
Appendix I