Research Article
Maria Adiyanti
Abstract
Sometimes the problem of being unhappy raised when the children and their parents didn’t have the same perceptions and indicators of child’s happiness. The purpose of this study was to identify indicators of child happiness from the perspectives of the children and their mothers and to find out the link of the two perspectives. This research conducted in two phases. The purpose of Phase 1 was to find the definition and indicators of child’s happiness from parents’ and children’s perspectives. Fifteen children (8-11 years old) and their mother were involved in FGD. The second phase was aimed to find out the link of the two. The child's happiness questionnaire was used to collect data on children’s happiness from the children and their mother point of view. The participants were 112 primary school children (8-10 years old) in Yogyakarta and their mothers. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and t-test. In the first phase of the study was found both children and their mother perceive happiness as positive emotions but there were differences in its indicators. The second phase of the study indicated that there were significant differences on abstract child happiness indicators between mother and child (t=11.26, p=0.05; children's M=47.5; mothers’ M=54.1). No differences in concrete indicators (t=10.01, p=0.06). There were significant differences in abstract indicators in terms of age group (F=6.37, p=0.01).