www.ijird.com March, 2014 Vol 3 Issue 3 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Page 328 Happiness Correlates of Personality among College Students 1. Introduction “What is the secret of his/her happiness?!!” all of us face this question. As social beings, we are always interested in personality of those whom we meet and curious to know the secret of happiness in this stressful and fast moving world. Every individual is interested in leading a happy and meaningful life. Twenty-five years ago, Easterlin (1974) posed an important question, “Will raising the Incomes of all increase the happiness of all?” Most of the citizens and economists will say that ‘Yes’ it is money that makes people feel happy. But according to the theories of relative preference, money does not bring happiness (Duesenburry 1949). On the contrary, it makes it difficult or impossible to increase the happiness of all through economic growth. According to absolute theories greater income can fill more needs (Veenhoven 1991) so that increasing the income of all will raise the happiness of all. But studies have shown that micro-level correlations between personal income and individual happiness appear to be greatest in poor nations and almost negligible in several rich nations (Veenhoven 1991). Recently, data became available about more nations and longer periods. The initial analyses of this data have yielded mixed results. Oswald (1997) and Hagerty (2000) found small effects of national income on happiness. In contrast, Easterlin (1995), Diener and Oishi (2000) could not detect any effect. Easterlin (1995) concluded again, “Raising the incomes of all will NOT increase the happiness of all”. According to Diener and Oishi (2000) and Galbraith (1984) increased public expenditures (parks, roads, and hospitals) will most efficiently increase average happiness. Veenhoven (2000) did not observe any positive relation between investment in some social security and happiness. Alternatively, Scitovsky (1992) and Lane (2000) propose that education and leisure time with friends and family will most efficiently increase individual happiness. Review of literature has shown that there are very few studies available to measure happiness among college going youth particularly in the Indian context using Easterlin’s model. Therefore the present research is trying to throw light in the widely spread area of personality and happiness and elaborate if the findings can help educational field to develop personality development program enhancing happiness. Personality is widely researched topic even in the Indian context. But there are no studies that have studied personality among college going students using Hexaco-PI-R and also it is not extensively studied in relation to happiness. As a result of which the present study tries to find out happiness correlates of personality. There are almost as many definitions of personality as there are authors (Pervin, 1990). In the present research the HEXACO model of personality is used to analyze personality. ISSN 2278 – 0211 (Online) Dr. Alpana Vaidya Associate Professor & Head, Department of Psychology Symbiosis College of Arts & Commerce, Pune, India Abstract: The present study aims at finding out the relation between happiness and Personality (HEXACO personality factors) among college going students. The sample comprised of 954 (356 males and 598 females) respondents from various colleges in Pune city. Tools administered were happiness scale developed by Uichol Kim and HEXACO PI R (2000) by Ashton and Lee. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s product moment correlation; t test was used to find out gender differences on happiness and personality. Regression was calculated to find out the relative contribution of personality on happiness. Obtained results showed that happiness was positively correlated with extraversion while honesty was negatively correlated. Results of the t-test showed males scored higher than females on honesty, conscientiousness and openness to experience, while females score higher than males on emotionality and happiness. Commerce students scored more on happiness compared to arts students. Results were discussed with the help of review of literature and theoretical foundations. Implications in terms of designing the intervention program for the students to increase the happiness in relation with personality have been discussed. Key words: Happiness, Hexaco, personality