BC Council for Families

Dr. Mark Holder, associate professor of psychology at UBC Okanagan, has recently released research on children's sources of happiness suggesting that many children have an unexpectedly sophisticated grasp of spirituality, and that they’re happier for it. This new research confirms the findings of Holder's 2008 study Spirituality and Happiness in Children, published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.

While the original research was conducted in Kelowna, Holder and his team wanted to repeat the study with a larger, more diverse population. Explains Holder, “We were concerned that Kelowna may be a little homogenous with respect to spirituality and culture, and we wanted our results generalized to a broader population.” After repeating the study with children in New Delhi, interestingly the group's findings remained consistent:

• Children who are spiritual (have a belief in a higher power) report greater levels of happiness than those that solely go to church or report a level of religiousness.
• 6.5 to 16.5 per cent of children‘s happiness can be accounted for by spirituality

The researchers identified several possible reasons why spirituality and happiness are linked. Spirituality produces a sense of meaning, it stimulates hope, reinforces positive social norms and can provide a social support network – all things that can improve a person‘s well-being.

The strong connection between children’s happiness and spirituality suggests that interventions that tap into different aspects of faith could boost children's well-being. In Holder's study, children’s happiness was most strongly linked to aspects of spirituality such as finding value and meaning in one’s own life, and finding communal meaning through relationships with others. Holder speculates that encouraging volunteering could increase happiness in children by helping them connect with others and find more personal meaning.