What makes people satisfied or happy with their lives or with particular features of their lives? In his attempt to answer these questions, the author has applied his Multiple Discrepancies Theory to study the satisfaction and happiness of university undergraduates in 39 countries. The project aims to explain global satisfaction and happiness as well as satisfaction in 12 domains: health, finances, family relations, paid employment, friendships, housing, living partner, recreation activity, religion, self-esteem, transportation and education. The forthcoming volumes of this survey will present detailed analysis for every domain, country and university, for whole groups, males and females. The four-volume set presents a thorough picture of the relative satisfaction and happiness of students in the world.

This is the first volume of a 4-volume reference work on student happiness.

1 Literature Review.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 The Question.- 1.3 General Problems with Surveys and Interviews.- 1.4 Mood versus Stability.- 1.5 Measuring Instruments.- 1.6 Satisfaction and Happiness Explained by Domain Satisfaction and Background Conditions.- 1.7 Discrepancy Theories.- 2 Multiple Discrepancies Theory.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Seven Discrepancies.- 2.3 The Social Construction of Knowledge and Value.- 2.4 Mediators, Background Conditioners and Action.- 3 Samples, Methods and Instruments.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Samples and Methods.- 3.3 Instruments.- 4 Descriptive Statistics.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Country Totals.- 4.3 Males and Females.- 4.4 World Norms.- 5 Life Satisfaction and Happiness Explained by Domain Satisfaction and Background Conditions.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Previous Research.- 5.3 World Sample, Males and Females.- 5.4 Country Analyses.- 5.5 Prediction Success Ratios.- 5.6 Religion and Other Special Cases.- 6 Life Satisfaction and Happiness Explained by MDT.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 World Sample.- 6.3 Males and Females.- 6.4 Thirty-Eight Countries.- 6.5 Prediction Success Ratios.- 6.6 MDT with Social Support and Self-Esteem.- 7 Concluding Remarks.- References.- Appendix 1. Participating scholars.- Appendix 2. Abbreviations and definitions.- Appendix 3. Results of regressions of life satisfaction and happiness scores on 12 domain satisfaction and 9 demographic scores for university samples and combined country samples, alphabetically by country.- Appendix 4. Satisfaction and happiness with life as a whole explained by MDT, alphabetically by country and university.- Appendix 5. Satisfaction and happiness with life as a whole explained by MDT including measures of social support and self-esteem, alphabetically by countries.