Busy Lives, Meaningful Paths? Exploring, Life Satisfaction, and Meaning of Life of Working College Students

The current trend has seen university students opting for exploration of different experiences including financial aspects due to various reasons. This a has led to the increase of freelancing jobs which are easy to obtain for students who are simultaneously studying. This may create a toll on mental and social well-being of the individuals. Therefore, this research intents to study the impact of working part time and study simultaneously on the life satisfaction and meaning of life, and see if there is a gender difference for the same. Life satisfaction refers to your overall assessment of how happy you are with your life. It’s a broader picture than just fleeting happiness. Meaning of life captures the sense of fulfilment and direction, it also reflects the desire to discover or create meaning. The study explores the significance of gender difference in life satisfaction and meaning of life.  The research involved a group of 80 college students, equally divided by gender (40 male, 40 female), who balanced their studies with part-time freelance work. The standardised tools such as Life satisfaction Questionnaire by Diener and meaning of life Questionnaire by Micheal Sterger are used to measure. The finding revealed that there is significant gender difference in the life satisfaction and presence subscale of Meaning of Life Questionnaire of college students who study and work as well but it was seen that there is no significant gender difference in searching subscale of meaning of life questionnaire.