Summary of PhD thesis: Dao Lan Huong

 

LIST OF SCIENTIFIC WORKS

OF THE AUTHOR RELATED TO THE THESIS

1. Dao Lan Huong (2019), “The relationship between family support and environment and life satisfaction of adolescents”,International Psychology Conference: Psychology and Psychological Ethics, pp. 57-68.

2. Dao Lan Huong, Nguyen Thi Minh Hang (2019), "Adolescents' life satisfaction: What factors from the family influence it?"The 5th International Conference on Vietnamese Children's Mental Health: Understanding Mental Health and the Community, pp. 185-197.

3. Dao Lan Huong (2020), “Affecting family ties and life satisfaction of adolescents”,Journal of Psychology No. 1 (205),pp. 62-75

4. Dao Lan Huong, Nguyen Thi Minh Hang (2020), “Adolescents' Perception of Happiness: A Multi-Approach Study”,Journal of Psychology, No. 6, p.

 

INTRODUCTION

1. Reason for choosing the topic

Happiness is a topic of interest to many scientific fields, including Psychology. Psychology studies happiness from the perspective of happiness perception. Happiness perception is considered a comfortable psychological state that people have in life. Research directions on happiness perception only began in the early 20th century and it was not until the 1980s and 1990s that happiness research really became a scientific field that many authors were interested in researching such as Diener (1980, 1995, 2000), Keyes (1998, 2002), Ryff (1989, 1995, 2013). However, research on happiness perception has only focused on countries with highly developed economies. In Vietnam, this issue has only received attention and research in recent years. Adolescents are an age group with many fluctuations in psychophysiological development and social awareness. This is the age when personality is being formed, so their feelings about life and happiness are also changed by their relationships with people around them, by the living environment, the learning environment. Family is considered the first and most important environment for the development of children in particular and adolescents in general. Family is the living environment in which children are nurtured, cared for, and loved in the most thoughtful way. Family is also the place where children feel psychologically and physically safe to ensure their development. The influence of family on the psychological development, personality, and feelings of children is also an issue worth discussing and researching. What influence does family have on children's feelings of happiness and how can these factors be predicted?

In Vietnam, there are not many studies on the happiness of adolescents. However, these studies only focus on the general happiness and have not yet analyzed the relationship between other factors and happiness, especially family factors.

Based on the above theoretical and practical aspects, I conducted research on the topic:“Adolescents' Perceived Happiness in Relationship with Family”.

2. Research purpose

Research on the current state of happiness of adolescents and the influence of family factors on the happiness of adolescents

3. Research subjects

-Overall happiness of adolescents

- Level, manifestation and factors affecting adolescents' sense of happiness in their relationship with their family

4. Research tasks

(1) Theoretical research:

• An overview of happiness in general and happiness of adolescents in particular
• Building a theoretical basis system on the feeling of happiness in general and the feeling of happiness in particular in adolescents in their relationship with their family
• Clarify concepts related to the topic of the thesis

(2) Practical research

• Clarifying the current situation of happiness among adolescents in Bac Ninh and Hanoi provinces
• Analysis and evaluation of factors affecting adolescents' sense of happiness in their relationship with their family
• Propose some recommendations to improve the feeling of happiness for teenagers

5. Research object and scope

1. Research object:The thesis's survey sample is adolescents aged 12 to 18 years old studying in junior high and high schools.
2. Research scope:

About the object:

The thesis's survey sample is 664 adolescents studying at secondary and high schools in Bac Ninh province and Hanoi city.

About content:The thesis limits practical research to specific contents:

• Study on adolescents' happiness perception in terms of life satisfaction, spiritual happiness and dependent happiness
• The study examined adolescents' relationships in the family based on the following factors: parenting style, emotional quality of life in the family, material quality of life in the family, family cohesion, participation rights, psychological control, and children's feelings about their parents' relationship.
• The results of the analysis are based on cross-sectional research. Therefore, adolescents' perceived happiness in relation to family is limited to the predictive power of family relationships on adolescents' perceived happiness.

About space:The thesis was conducted in Bac Ninh and Hanoi.

6. Research questions

1. What is the general level of happiness among teenagers?
2. Are there differences in feelings of happiness among different groups of students (according to criteria of gender, age, living area, family structure, family economic conditions)?
3. How is the reality of adolescent relationships in the family expressed?
4. What factors influence adolescents' feelings of happiness in their family relationships?
5. Are there differences in the influence of factors on adolescents' family relationships between different groups of students (according to criteria of gender, age, living area, family economic conditions, family structure)?

7. Research hypothesis

The feeling of happiness of adolescents in general and the feeling of happiness in relation to family have many different levels and manifestations. There are differences in the feeling of happiness between different groups of students (depending on gender, age, living area, family structure). Factors such as the relationship of adolescents with parents, the relationship of family members, family type... all have an influence on the feeling of happiness of adolescents.

8. Research methods

Document research method

Survey method by scale

Interview method

Data processing method using mathematical statistics

9. New contributions of the thesis

In theory

In general, it has shown the research trends of adolescents' happiness in their relationship with their family in the world and shown that this is still a fairly new research topic in Vietnam. The thesis has systematized the theories of happiness in the world and added to the theoretical research system that has only been initially studied in Vietnam in recent years.

In practice:Initial adaptation of some valid scales of adolescents' perceived well-being and family relationships

10. Structure of the thesis

Chapter 1: Overview of research on adolescents' feelings of happiness in relation to family

Chapter 2: Theoretical basis of adolescents' sense of happiness in relationship with family

Chapter 3: Research organization and methods

Chapter 4: Results of practical research on adolescents' feelings of happiness in their relationships with their families

Chapter 1: OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTION OF HAPPINESS IN RELATIONSHIP WITH FAMILY

1. Studies on adolescents' general sense of happiness

Firstly, when studying the studies on adolescents' happiness, we found that most studies studied happiness in two directions: subjective happiness (satisfaction with life, positive emotions, negative emotions) (Bradburn, 1969; Diener et al., 1985) and psychological happiness (Ryff, 1989; Clarke et al., 2011, Keye, 1998). The studies not only assessed the level of happiness of adolescents but also adapted happiness scales. Of which, there are two main scales used to measure happiness: Diener's life satisfaction scale (1985) and the psychological happiness scale (Ryff, 1989). The second direction is research examining the correlation between feelings of happiness and other factors, including: physical health, mental health, the development of adolescent personality traits, future development prospects, etc.

1.2. Studies on adolescents' feelings of happiness in relation to family

1.2.1. Research directions on adolescents' happiness and factors related to family type

In studies on adolescents' feelings of happiness in relation to their families, many studies have shown that family structure does not affect the child's feelings of happiness much, but that adolescents' feelings of happiness depend largely on the quality of relationships between family members. Studies have also shown that children living in incomplete families also have low feelings of happiness. Some studies show that factors such as family economic conditions, income, gender, and age do not change this feeling in adolescents.

1.2.2. Research directions on adolescents' feelings of happiness andpsychological environmentfamily

In this research direction, foreign studies by Bagi and Manoj (2014), Antony and Manikandan (2015), Shek (1997a, 1997b, 1998), Cripps and Zyromski (2009), 1997b, 2002), Hassan, Yusoof and Alavi (2012), Rask, Astedt-Kurki, Paavilainen, Laippala (2003), Duineveld, Jasper J; Parker, Philip D.; Ryan, Richard M.; Ciarrochi, Joseph; & Salmela-Aro, Katariina (2017), Telze and Fuligni (2009) focused on the relationship between adolescents' perceived well-being and family psychological factors, including family environment, family dynamics, parental perceptions, parental autonomy support, family functioning, family psychological climate, parenting practices, family conflict.

Chapter 1 Summary

Chapter 2.THEORETICAL BASIS OF ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTION OF HAPPINESSAND THE INFLUENCE OF FAMILY FACTORS

2.1. Theory of happiness

2.1.1. Theories of happiness research

2.1.1.1. Theory of perceived happiness

Representative of the hedonic happiness perspective is Diener (1984) with his studies on subjective well-being. Subjective well-being includes two main components: (a)life satisfaction verdictand (b)emotional balance or the amount of positive influence that exceeds the amount of negative influence in someone's life(Andrews & Withey, 1976; A. Campbell, Converse, & Rodgers, 1976; Diener, 1984).

2.1.1.2. Eudaimonic well-being theory

There are three theories of happiness built from the concept of nature (eudaimonia): (1) Nature in action, (2) Feeling of psychological happiness and (3) Self-determination theory. The representative of the school of research on the feeling of happiness of human nature is Ryff with the feeling of psychological happiness. Ryff's theory includes six basic aspects of feeling of psychological happiness: Autonomy, mastery of the environment, personal growth, positive relationships with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance (Ryff, 1989a, 1989b; 1995; Ryff, & Essex, 1992; Ryff, & Keyes, 1995; Ryff, & Singer, 1996).

2.1.1.3. Dependent Theory of Happiness

Another research direction on happiness is the study of the relationship between culture and happiness. Cross-cultural researchers argue that Western psychology has focused too much on the aspect of realizing one’s independence when studying happiness – this perspective is not entirely suitable for East Asian culture (Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015; Kitayama, Park, Sevincer, Karasawa & Uskul, 2009; Koyasu et al., 2012; Kusumi, 2012; Suh, 2007). From these findings, Kitayama, Hitokoto, Uchida and other researchers proposed the concept of “interdependent happiness” – emphasizing happiness based on relationships without neglecting individual happiness.

2.1.2. Concept of feeling happy

The concept of happiness is a multidimensional concept and is still controversial. Modern research agrees with the thesis that: "Happiness is a multidimensional structure consisting of three dimensions: subjective, psychological and social. Each of these dimensions is also a multidimensional concept" (Negovan, 2010, p. 86). However, based on the above analysis and research directions, our study tends to the view that happiness is a multidimensional concept with three main dimensions: life satisfaction, spiritual happiness and dependent happiness.

2.2. Family factors affecting adolescents' sense of happiness

2.2.1.Psychological characteristics of adolescents in the family

Adolescence is a physical and mental transitional period in human development that occurs between childhood and adulthood. This transition involves biological (e.g. puberty), social, and psychological changes, although the biological and psychological changes are the most noticeable. These changes are accompanied by psychological changes in the adolescent within the family, especially in the relationship with the parents. The family continues to play an indispensable role in the psychological development of adolescents.

2.2.2. Family factors affecting adolescent CNHP

2.2.2.1. Parenting

Parenting is a never-ending job and it is not an easy job. In the process of child development, the way of parenting plays a very important role.

2.2.2.2. Emotional quality of life

Emotional quality of life is one of two aspects of personal well-being and part of assessing the quality of life in the family.

2.2.2.3. Material quality of life

According to Chowa, Gina & Ansong, David & Masa, Rainier (2010): Material quality of life is a dimension of human well-being. Material well-being is measured through income, consumption patterns or assets/wealth.

2.2.2.4. Family cohesion

Family cohesion is defined as the emotional bond that family members have with each other. Family cohesion can be understood as the emotional and behavioral connection between parents and children. Based on these perspectives, we built a family cohesion scale consisting of two factors: emotional cohesion, which means sharing close space (liking to be close to each other), and behavioral cohesion, which means supporting and making decisions based on the family.

2.2.2.5. Right to participate

Children's participation is one of the core principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which affirms that children and young people have the right to freely express their views and have the duty to listen to their views and facilitate their participation in all matters affecting them in the family, school, local community, public services, organizations, government policies and judicial procedures.

2.2.2.6. Psychological control

Psychological control is a complex and multifaceted construct, incorporating references to specific methods of controlling behavior as well as the impact of those methods on child development.

2.2.2.7. Perceptions about parental relationships

Perceptions of parental relationships can be understood as children's assessments of their parental relationships, including their feelings, attachment, feelings for each other, and interactions between parents in the family. Children's perceptions of their parental relationships can be understood in two ways: positive and negative.

2.3. Research model on adolescents' happiness perception in the family

2.3.1.HpleaseHeylife

There are several different definitions of life satisfaction however we follow Dienner's (1984) view: “Life satisfaction is the overall assessment of a person's feelings and attitudes about life at a particular point in time ranging from negative to positive.

2.3.2. Spiritual happiness

The feeling of spiritual well-being is considered to encompass both the hedonic (happiness, subjective well-being) and intrinsic (active functioning) elements (Ryan, Deci, 2001). Spiritual well-being is a positive and sustainable mental state that allows individuals to develop and have good coping skills in life.

2.3.3. Happiness depends

Dependent happiness is a type of happiness built on relationships, a state of harmony and balance achieved between oneself and meaningful others (Hitokoto & Uchida, 2015).

In shortAdolescents' sense of well-being is the adolescent's subjective feelings and assessment of the level of satisfaction with life, of a healthy mental state that allows the individual to cope well with life problems and actualize himself, while achieving harmony in relationships with people around him.

Chapter 2 Summary

Chapter 3. RESEARCH ORGANIZATION AND METHODS

3.1. Some features of the research area and objects

3.1.1. Research area

The study was conducted in two locations: Bac Ninh province and Hanoi city to assess the differences in geographical characteristics, socio-economic conditions and culture in two different locations related to the happiness of adolescents in their families.

1.2. Research object

The total number of research subjects is 664 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years old, concentrated in 5 secondary and high schools in Bac Ninh province and Hanoi city. Table 3.1 below describes some characteristics of the research sample.

Table 3.1. Characteristics of research subjects

Characteristics of research subjects		n	%	Characteristics of research subjects		n	%
Sex	Male	330	49.7	Family style	Extend	382	57.5
	Female	334	50.3		Nuclear	245	36.9
Grade block	Grade 6	133	20.0		Parents passed away	11	1.7
	Grade 7	119	17.9		Divorce/separation	20	3.0
	Grade 8	107	16.1		Have a stepmother/stepfather	6	0.9
	Grade 9	83	12.5	Location	Hanoi	261	39.3
	Grade 10	38	5.7		Bac Ninh	403	60.7
	Grade 11	121	18.2	Personal circumstances	offspring	592	89.2
	Grade 12	63	9.5		Adopted	62	9.3
Birth order	Eldest son	298	44.9		Stepchild	10	1.5
	Second child	195	29.4	Family economic conditions	Well-off	158	23.8
	Youngest child	129	19.4		Medium	476	71.7
	only child	42	6.3		Hard	30	4.5
Place of residence	Urban	355	53.5
	Peri-urban	133	20.0
	Countryside	176	26.5

3.2. Research organization

The research process was conducted in 4 stages.

• Phase 1: Theoretical research
• Phase 2: Adapting the toolkit
• Phase 3: Field investigation
• Phase 4: Data processing and report writing

3.3. Research methods

From the use of document research method, the thesis presents the research content and builds the main research tool of the thesis which is a questionnaire combined with the use of data processing method using social statistics software SPSS version 22.0.

The questionnaire was designed to include: a 3-dimensional scale expressing the feeling of happiness: satisfaction with life, spiritual happiness and dependent happiness; 7 scales on influencing factors and 13 single variables. The scales were built in the form of a Likert scale.

The questionnaire was piloted with 257 subjects to test its validity (by factor analysis), reliability (Cronbach Alpha) as well as the length and comprehensibility of the questions.

Below is a description of the reliability of the scales.

Table 3.3. Reliability of the scale based on official survey data(N = 664)

TT	Scale	Number of items	Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α)
I	Happiness Scale
1	Satisfied with life	5	0.75
2	Spiritual happiness	14	0.84
3	Happiness depends	9	0.76
II	Influence factor scale
1	Parenting	6	0.79
2	Emotional quality of life	4	0.73
3	Material quality of life	5	0.70
4	Family bonding	8	0.84
5	Right to participate	7	0.86
6	Psychological control (disrespect scale)(Father/Mother)	8	0.78/0.79
7	Positive feelings about parental relationships	6	0.91
8	Negative feelings about parental relationships	4	0.85

Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics (frequency, mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (comparison, correlation analysis, regression analysis, intervening variable survey). After obtaining the results on the current state of happiness perception as well as factors affecting happiness perception, we conducted in-depth interviews with 20 subjects to clarify the current state from the quantitative results. To more deeply describe the adaptation phenomenon with qualitative data, the thesis describes two cases: a PNSS with a low level of adaptation with psychological counseling intervention; a PNSS with a high level of adaptation.

In summary, to conduct the research, the author used 4 methods: document research, questionnaire survey, in-depth interview, and processing research data using mathematical statistics.

Chapter 3 Summary

Chapter 4. RESEARCH RESULTS ONAdolescents' Perceptions of Happiness and the Influence of Family Factors

4.1. Current situationAdolescents' perceived well-being and the influence of family factors

4.1.1. Life satisfaction, spiritual well-being and dependent well-being of adolescents

When analyzing the specific aspects of the three aspects expressing the happiness of adolescents, the author found that the highest expression in the aspect of life satisfaction was "My living conditions are very good" (Mean: 5.06, SD=1.43), "I am satisfied with my life" (Mean: 5.03, SD=1.61); in the aspect of spiritual happiness, the expression with the highest average score was "I am interested in new things" (M=3.95, SD=1.13), followed by "I feel happy" (M=3.84, SD=1.04); In the aspect of dependent happiness, the expression with the highest average score was "I have a normal but quite stable life" (M=4.09, SD=0.99); "I can do what I want as long as it does not affect others" (M=3.78, SD=1.25).

4.1.2. General assessment of adolescents' sense of happiness

Adolescents' perceived well-being was measured in three dimensions: general life satisfaction, perceived spiritual well-being, and perceived dependent well-being.

The three aspects of adolescents' happiness perception had a small difference in mean scores and all aspects were above level 3 out of 5 levels of the Likert scale. Of which, the aspect of spiritual happiness had the highest mean score (M=3.48, SD=3.64), followed by dependent happiness (M=3.36, SD=0.68) and the lowest was satisfaction with life (M=3.33, SD=0.95).

The average score of the three aspects of adolescents' happiness (life satisfaction, spiritual happiness, dependent happiness) at this time was 3.42 (SD=0.59), of which 15.8% of adolescents had low happiness, 69.4% of adolescents had average happiness, and 14.8% of adolescents had high happiness. Thus, the proportion of adolescents with high and average happiness was much higher than that of adolescents with low happiness.

4.1.3. The relationship between the aspects of happiness perception of adolescents

Adolescents’ sense of well-being is examined in three dimensions: life satisfaction, spiritual well-being, and dependent well-being. These three dimensions are closely correlated with each other and with overall well-being. The specific data are shown in Figure 4.1 below.

Figure 4.1. Correlation between aspects of happiness perception

Examining the relationship between the three aspects of adolescents' happiness, we can see that there is a positive correlation between the three aspects of happiness: spiritual happiness has the strongest correlation with dependent happiness (r=0.57; P<0.01), followed by the correlation between life satisfaction and dependent happiness (r=0.46; p<0.01) and finally spiritual happiness with life satisfaction (r=0.43; p<0.01). This shows that the better the child's spiritual happiness, the better his or her dependent happiness is, and life satisfaction is also associated with the aspects of dependent happiness.

4.1.4. The influence of demographic variables on adolescents' sense of happiness

By using the test to compare the difference in mean scores of perceived happiness of variables according to demographic variables, we see that gender and parental occupation do not have a significant difference in the perceived happiness of adolescents. The remaining variables such as living area, studying, age, class, family economic conditions, family type, family conflict and health problems all have differences in the assessment of perceived happiness. In which, adolescents living in the city, in families with good economic conditions, young age (junior high school), living in nuclear or extended families, families with little family conflict and good health of family members have a better sense of happiness than adolescents living in rural areas, difficult economic conditions, special family circumstances and family members with health problems. In addition, the comparison results also showed that adolescents who were the youngest children had a higher sense of dependent happiness than adolescents who were the second children.

4.2. The current status of family factors related to adolescents' sense of happiness

4.2.1. Current status of family factors of adolescents

This section describes the research results on the status of family factors influencing adolescents' sense of well-being, which are parenting practices, emotional quality of life, material quality of life, family cohesion, participation rights, perceptions of parental relationships, and psychological control.

4.2.2. Some factors related to family factors of adolescents

In this section, the author will examine whether there is a difference in the mean scores of demographic variables for the factors related to the family of adolescents. The results of the One-way Anova test show that there is no difference in the mean scores when assessing the family relationship of the order of children, the area of ​​residence. The remaining factors such as gender, age, family economic conditions, family type, family conflict all have significant differences in the mean scores with the family factor.

4.3. The influence of family factors onfeel the happiness of teenagers

4.3.1. Correlation between family factors related to adolescents' sense of happiness

Family factors are closely correlated with each other, in which the parenting factor has a fairly high correlation score with the remaining family factors.

4.3.2. Correlation between adolescents' sense of happiness and family factors.

Table 4.16. Correlation between family factors and adolescents' sense of happiness

Aspects	HLCS	HPTT	HPPT	CNHPC
Parenting	0.35**	0.43**	0.40**	0.49**
Emotional quality of life	0.34**	0.46**	0.41**	0.51**
Material quality of life	0.33**	0.43**	0.33**	0.46**
Family bonding	0.37**	0.42**	0.45**	0.51**
Right to participate	0.40**	0.45**	0.48**	0.55**
Controlling Dad's Mind	-0.23**	-0.21**	-0.16**	-0.26**
Controlling mother's psychology	-0.25**	-0.24**	-0.20**	-0.28**
Positive feelings about parent-child relationships	0.32**	0.26**	0.30**	0.36**
Negative feelings about parent relationships	-0.14**	-0.06	-0.09*	-0.10**

Note: HLCS: life satisfaction; HPTT: Spiritual happiness; HPPT: Dependent happiness; CNHPC: General happiness perception

Table 4.16 shows that all the influencing factors included in the thesis are correlated with the factors of adolescents' happiness, including the factors: parenting, emotional quality of life, material quality of life, family cohesion, participation rights and positive feelings about the relationship of parents are positively correlated with the happiness of adolescents and 3 factors: father's psychological control, mother's psychological control and negative feelings about the relationship of parents are negatively correlated with the happiness of adolescents. The level of influence of these aspects on the happiness is different.

4.3.3. Predicting factors affecting adolescents' feelings of happiness

In the predictive regression analysis, we used two regression models: univariate regression and multivariate regression. In which the independent variables were the influencing factors: parenting style, emotional quality of life, material quality of life, family cohesion, participation, psychological control, children's perception of the parental relationship and the dependent variables were aspects of perceived happiness including life satisfaction, spiritual happiness and dependent happiness.

4.3.2.1. Predicting the impact of each family factor on adolescents' sense of happiness

Regarding the predictive amplitude of factors affecting the feeling of happiness. When considering the three individual aspects of happiness: life satisfaction, spiritual happiness and dependent happiness, the predictive level of variation in these aspects of happiness in adolescents is different.

In terms of adolescent life satisfaction, it is explained by 4 factors: material quality of life, family cohesion, participation rights and positive feelings about the parent relationship. Among these factors, participation rights have the highest influence, predicting 15.3% of the variation in life satisfaction. In terms of mental happiness, there are 4 factors that can predict the mental happiness of adolescents: emotional quality of life, material quality of life, family cohesion, and child participation rights. Of which, material quality of life has the highest level of prediction for mental happiness (β = 0.173, p<0.01). In terms of dependent happiness, there are 4 aspects: family cohesion, participation rights, father's psychological control and child's positive feelings about the parent relationship. Among them, family cohesion had the highest predictive power ((β = 0.219, p<0.01).

4.3.3.2. Predicting the influence of all family factors on adolescents' sense of happiness

In terms of overall happiness, six family factors predicted 39.9% of the variation in adolescents’ happiness, namely parenting, emotional quality of life, material quality of life, family cohesion, child involvement, and positive feelings about the parent-child relationship. In particular, child involvement had the highest predictive power in adolescents’ happiness (β = 0.199, p<0.01).

4.3.3.3. Survey of mediating variables affecting adolescents' feelings of happiness

The results of the study showed that the five family dimensions (emotional quality of life, material quality of life, family cohesion, child participation, and child positive perception of the parent-child relationship) were all moderating variables that parenting style affected adolescents' sense of well-being. These effects were all positive, meaning that the process of caring for and raising children by parents affected adolescents' sense of well-being through family quality of life, family cohesion, child participation in the family, and child positive perception of the parent-child relationship. The degree of impact of these mediating variables on the model of parenting style's influence on adolescents' sense of well-being was different.

4.4. Portrait of happy teenagers

By selecting adolescents who had scores on all three dimensions of happiness: life satisfaction, spiritual happiness, and dependent happiness. The author found 35 happiest adolescents and 24 unhappy adolescents. The demographic characteristics of these two groups of adolescents were not different. However, when assessing the influence of family factors on the happiness of adolescents, we found that the happiness of these adolescents was strongly correlated with the family influence factors (Figure 4.10).

Figure 4.10. Correlation of factors influencing the happiness of very happy adolescents

To assess the predictive power of these factors on the happiness of the happiest adolescents, we used a linear regression model for these factors. The results showed that these five influential variables (family cohesion, child involvement, parenting style, emotional quality of life, emotional quality of life, and material quality of life) predicted 48% of the variation in happiness. Of these, only the material quality of life factor was significant (p=0.032) and predicted up to 46.8% of the variation in happiness. From these results, we can build a model of happy adolescents.

Chapter 4 Summary

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

1. CONCLUSION

The perception of happiness among adolescents is a complex research issue. Although many authors have been interested in researching, there are still many aspects that have not been clearly and specifically exploited. The thesis conducted research with a sample of 664 adolescents selected from Bac Ninh and Hanoi city over a period of 3 years from 2016 to 2019. From the research results, some conclusions can be drawn as follows:

1.1. About theory

(1) The thesis has evaluated the research situation in the world and in Vietnam on the feeling of happiness in general and the feeling of happiness of adolescents in particular. Regarding the family aspects affecting the feeling of happiness of adolescents, the thesis has shown that the following factors have been studied: family type, which here is the psychological relationship between members in that family type, family psychological environment, family structure, parenting style, family cohesion, psychological control and family conflict.

(2) The thesis has also shown that happiness is a multidimensional structure and has many different research directions, in which two main research trends on the feeling of happiness stand out: hedonic well-being and eudaimonic well-being. However, in each age and culture, the feeling of happiness is different. For adolescents, their feelings about happiness have both hedonic and eudaimonic aspects. The thesis has shown that there are three aspects that make up the feeling of happiness of adolescents: satisfaction with life, spiritual happiness and dependent happiness. From there, we build the concept of happiness of adolescents.

(3) The thesis also pointed out the factors that influence adolescents' sense of happiness: parenting, emotional quality of life, material quality of life, family cohesion, participation rights, children's perception of their parents' relationship and psychological control.

1.2. In practice

(1) Based on the research content and reference from the tools of previous authors, the author of the thesis has adapted and built a set of research tools for the topic. In which, the questionnaire with the method of measuring the core of adolescents' happiness perception includes 28 observed variables divided into 3 aspects: Satisfaction with life, spiritual happiness and dependent happiness are assessed to ensure reliability and validity for inclusion in the study.

(2) The thesis evaluated the happiness perception of 664 adolescents. The results showed that the happiness perception of adolescents in Bac Ninh and Hanoi was above average and expressed in all three aspects of life satisfaction, spiritual happiness and dependent happiness. The happiness perception of adolescents also differed in terms of gender, age, birth order, economic conditions, family type and family circumstances.

(3) The results of the test of the influence of family factors on the happiness of adolescents once again confirmed that there are family factors that influence the happiness of adolescents, which are satisfaction with the quality of family life (expressed in three aspects: parenting, emotional quality of life, and material quality of life), family cohesion, participation rights, perception of parental relationships, and psychological control. However, the new point of the thesis is to point out the level of influence of each of these factors on the happiness as well as to build a model of family factors that influence the happiness of adolescents.

(4) The thesis has shown that among the family factors, participation has the highest level of influence on the positive aspects of adolescents' happiness. In addition, the research results also show that the aspects that reduce adolescents' happiness are family conflict, health of family members and psychological control, especially disrespectful control of the father. This result helps us to affirm that adolescents' happiness is closely related to family aspects. Demographic factors also have an influence on adolescents' happiness.

(5) The thesis also points out and discusses the impact of family factors (emotional quality of life, material quality of life, family cohesion, participation rights, positive feelings about parental relationships) on the influence of parenting on happiness, thereby contributing to proposing measures to improve happiness.

(6) The thesis has built a portrait of the happiest teenagers in the family.

Besides these findings, the process of implementing the thesis also has some limitations. In terms of conceptualization: the concept of happiness still has Western references although the core of the concept has been Vietnamized to suit the research object. Secondly, due to the difference between the research objects in Bac Ninh and Hanoi, the thesis has not specifically examined the difference in happiness perception in these two research areas. Moreover, there are only very few adolescents living in incomplete families (37/664, accounting for only 0.06% of the research object), so it is not possible to confirm the difference in happiness perception of adolescents in the family type variable.

2. RECOMMENDATIONS

From the results of theoretical and practical research on adolescents' sense of happiness and the influence of family factors, we would like to propose the following recommendations to improve adolescents' sense of happiness.

1) In parenting, parents need to focus on caring for their children both physically and mentally, ensuring that they are both a solid spiritual support for their children and a confidant with whom their children can share their concerns. In addition, parents need to maintain the connection between family members. At the same time, in raising children, parents should not be too protective of their children but should give their children the right to decide, the right to share and express their personal opinions. In addition, parents also need to maintain a happy and harmonious family atmosphere, love and care for each other so that children feel secure when evaluating their parents' relationship.

2) In terms of family quality of life: Parents and family members need to improve the quality of family life to increase the level of satisfaction of adolescents in terms of parenting, emotional quality of life and material quality of life. Specifically, parents need to help teach their children how to behave, help their children learn to be independent, spend more time with their children, teach their children how to make the right decisions and spend more time caring for their children's needs. In addition, parents are not only parents but also need to play the role of friends who can help adolescents relieve stress and be ready to help when needed. In addition, it is also necessary to give children private moments, should not intrude too deeply into their children's private lives. Parents also need to respect their children's decisions. The aspect of material quality of life also contributes to increasing the feeling of happiness of adolescents, so in addition to spiritual satisfaction, parents also need to take care of their children in terms of material factors. Research shows that teenagers who live in well-off families are happier than those who live in poor families. However, what teenagers want most from their families is a sense of safety at home, at school and on the street.

3) In terms of participation rights: In addition to caring for children, taking care of their material and spiritual lives, giving children the right to participate, the right to give opinions, the right to express their opinions is a factor that strongly influences and predicts the greatest variation in adolescents' feelings of happiness. Adolescents not only want their parents to give them the right to decide and give opinions, but also want their parents to analyze when their opinions or views are not correct. Often in many families, parents often give themselves the right to force their children to listen to their opinions, very few parents patiently listen to their children speak. Adolescents are at an age of certain psychological maturity, so parents need to understand their children's psychology to create conditions for them to grow up. In fact, when a child is not allowed to express his/her own opinion, is forbidden, and is forced to follow orders, he/she will either strongly oppose, creating conflicts between parents and children, or rely on the opinions of parents and refuse to have his/her own opinions, leading to forever being a child in an adult body. Thus, to enhance the child's sense of happiness, parents need to respect their children and teach them to be independent.

4) Regarding family bonding: Family members need to care and share everything in life with each other, give advice, and help when someone needs it. Regularly call each other to check on each other. They should live close to each other and create many opportunities for each other to be close and take care of each other.

5) In the family, parents also need to love each other, live in harmony and care for each other. Although married life is not without conflicts, resolving conflicts peacefully without affecting the children's feelings is also what helps teenagers feel happier.

1. Family members, especially parents, need to control their children at an appropriate level so as not to hurt their self-esteem. Respect your children, do not ridicule or belittle them, do not compare them with others, do not embarrass them in front of others, do not violate their children's privacy, and especially parents should see their children as separate entities. Each child is a separate personality, so parents should not expect too much from their children but create conditions for their children to develop their abilities.
2. Avoid conflicts in the family, especially conflicts between parents or between parents and children, conflicts between family members. Create a warm and comfortable family atmosphere.