Comparative Study between Happiness and Adjustment Levels of Middle School Students and High School Students

Adolescence is a critical transitional period in every teenager’s life and is marked by a plethora of physiological, physical and psychological changes, as well as a melange of polar emotions. Adolescents tend to seek autonomy from parental figures and want independence in domains of education and decision making. Furthermore, as explained in Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages in 1968 of development, adolescents search for their personal identity and seek to achieve their sense of the self. This is marked by a phase of exploration – the experimental stage that is called the ‘moratorium’ – which, if marked by successful identity achievement, may lead to the formation of one’s own set of beliefs on what is right and wrong, their own moral system. This success is marked by a formed sense of the self, which allows adolescents to accept individual differences and keep them from conforming to societal pressures. An alternate outcome of this phase is ‘identity crisis’, which causes an adolescent to have an unclear sense of the self and it leads to a prolonged stage of experimentation, in the journey to find oneself. This may be dangerous if it leads to delinquency, substance abuse, eating disorders, etc. The primary aim of this study is to examine the difference in adjustment and happiness between students of middle school (age 12-14 years) and high school (age 15-18 years). The sample size consists of 30 middle school and 30 high school students. Tests employed were ‘Satisfaction With Life Scale’ based on ‘subjective well-being’ by Ed Diener (1984). Following the collection of data, the raw scores were analyzed using Ed Diener’s standardized analysis for SWLS.