Publications

Education and happiness in the school-to-work transition

By Alfred Michael Dockery
Research report
19 April 2010
ISBN 978 1 921413 86 5

Description

Education is generally seen as enhancing people's lives. However, previous research has reported an inverse relationship between education and happiness or satisfaction with life: as education level goes up, happiness goes down. Using data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), this report examines the relationship between education and happiness. The impact of factors such as family circumstances and personality traits are also considered. The report finds that undertaking vocational qualifications such as an apprenticeship has a positive impact on happiness both during the training period and after completion. For university graduates, however, happiness declines following completion of their study.

Summaries

About the research .pdf 40.3 KB Download
Executive summary .pdf 53.0 KB Download

Publications

Education and happiness in the school-to-work transition .pdf 890.7 KB Download
Education and happiness in the school-to-work transition .doc 888.0 KB Download

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