How Gender Matters for Happiness: A Serial Study in of College Students in China

Studies in the past have found that gender plays an important role in happiness. This study examines
gender difference in happiness and depression in Chinese society, with regard to the Five Factor Model
(FFM). Totally, 5648 students (aged between 17 and 29) were recruited from universities in China.
Results indicated that women reported higher happiness and higher depression than men. The present
study provides empirical data that women tend to express more emotional feelings, like gratitude and
happiness. Moreover, results showed that extraversion mediated women’ experience of subjective
happiness and depression whereas neuroticism mediated women’ experience of depression. The results
of the present study reconfirmed that extraversion was the most reliable predictor of positive affect (e.g.,
happiness) while neuroticism was the most reliable predictor of negative affect (e.g., depression).

How Gender Matters for Happiness: A Serial Study in of College Students in China. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315669298_How_Gender_Matters_for_Happiness_A_Serial_Study_in_of_College_Students_in_China [accessed May 29, 2017].