Happiness varies slightly by education, race, and gender, but overall the patterns are subtle
The Relationship Between Education and Happiness Across Gender and Race
Averie, Rachel, Mikaela 1
1 University of Redlands
Introduction
This project examines the relationship between educational attainment and self-reported happiness using data from the General Social Survey (GSS). Education is often associated with greater well-being, but the extent to which it contributes to happiness may vary across different social groups.
Our research question is, “Do education levels relate to happiness in similar ways across gender and racial groups?” This reflects the idea that not all demographic groups will experience the same benefits from higher education. Social and structural inequalities can shape the opportunities and resources available to individuals, influencing how education translates into happiness.
To explore these patterns, this study considers how gender, age, race relate to differences in reported happiness and whether these relationships vary among individuals.
Background Literature
Prior research consistently finds that individuals with higher education tend to report greater levels of happiness. However, studies in sociology and social psychology find that the benefits of education are not experienced equally across all demographic groups. Factors such as gender and race shape people’s educational experiences, access to opportunities, and social treatment, which can influence how strongly education contributes to happiness.
Research on inequality highlights that women and racial minorities often face structural barriers, even when they have similar levels of education as others. Experiences such as workplace discrimination, social expectations, and limited career advancement can reduce the emotional and social benefits associated with higher education. These inequalities may affect how education translates into well-being and lead to some groups experiencing fewer happiness gains than others.
This literature supports our hypothesis that the relationship between education and happiness varies across gender and racial groups. We therefore consider whether individuals with similar levels of education experience different levels of happiness depending on their demographic backgrounds.
Data and Methodology
This project uses data from the General Social Survey (GSS), a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults. For this analysis we used data from 2018-2024, focusing on variables that allow us to examine how educational attainment relates to self-reported happiness across different demographic groups. We selected seven variables: degree, happiness level, gender, and race that are all categorical. Degree and happiness are measured as ordinal variables, while gender and race are nominal. Along with those, we selected age, years of education, and income/salary, which are all numerical variables that provide further insight into demographic differences in happiness outcomes. These variables allow us to investigate whether the relationship between education and happiness differs by gender and race and to explore how broader demographic factors shape well-being across groups.
When categorizing race in our data, we included “White, Black, and Other.” The “Other” category represents respondents who do not identify with the two primary groups. This includes mixed-race individuals, Native American respondents, Middle Eastern individuals, and any other racial identities that are not explicitly listed in the main two groups.
For visualizations, we selected chart types based on both the structure of our variables and the relationships of interest. Because our research and data focus on strong categorical variables: race, happiness level, gender, and degree, we have decided to use faceted stacked bar charts and standard bar charts to display individual distributions and to illustrate how happiness varies across education levels. By having separate panels for gender and race, these charts allow for clear comparisons between demographic groups.
To simplify interpretations, we collapsed the original education into three broader categories, “Less Than High School” and “High School” became “High School or Less”, “Junior College” and “Bachelor” became “JC or Bachelor”, and finally we left “Graduate” the way it was. This allowed for clearer comparisons of happiness across education levels.
We can also better understand our analysis with a regression equation:
\[ happiness_i = \beta_0 + \beta_1 (education_i) + \beta_2 (gender_i) + \beta_3 (race_i) + \beta_4 (education_i*gender_i) + \beta_5 (education_i*race_i) + \epsilon_i \]
Results
| Lt High School | High School | Junior College | Bachelor | Graduate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very happy | 35.4 | 21.9 | 30.3 | 29.3 | 33.3 |
| Pretty happy | 41.7 | 49.0 | 45.5 | 49.3 | 54.2 |
| Not too happy | 22.9 | 29.2 | 24.2 | 21.3 | 12.5 |
| White | Black | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Very happy | 31.2 | 25.6 | 21.8 |
| Pretty happy | 46.5 | 41.9 | 60.0 |
| Not too happy | 22.3 | 32.6 | 18.2 |
| Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|
| Very happy | 29.3 | 28.0 |
| Pretty happy | 47.8 | 49.0 |
| Not too happy | 22.9 | 23.1 |
Discussion
Overall, our results show that happiness varies across demographic groups, but the differences are relatively modest. The factors such as sex, race, and education do play a role in shaping happiness, but none play a large difference in this dataset. The proportion tables indicate that men and women report similar levels of happiness, and the distribution of education groups is not strongly linear. Across racial groups, only small shifts in happiness proportions are shown. These findings align with previous research showing that happiness is influenced by a combination of social factors. They also highlight the importance of considering these factors together rather than assuming that a single variable strongly predicts happiness on its own.
References
Assari, S. (2019). Race, education attainment, and happiness in the United States. International journal of epidemiologic research, 6(2), 76-82. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6666429/
Araki, S., & Li, S. (2025). The shifting happiness returns to higher education over 50 years: Causal mediation analysis of college completion, economic benefits, and happiness in the USA. Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-025-01477-1
Brower, T. (2021, October 17). Learning is a sure path to happiness: Science proves it. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2021/10/17/learning-is-a-sure-path-to-happiness-science-proves-it/
Larsen, A. (2021, January 2). How income, health, religion and lifestyle impact our happiness - and how that’s changed over the years. The Salt Lake Tribune. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/01/02/how-income-health/
Maharlouei, N., Cobb, S., Bazargan, M. & Assari, S. (2020). Subjective Health and Happiness in the United States: Gender Differences in the Effects of Socioeconomic Status Indicators. Journal of Mental Health & Clinical Psychology, 4(2), 8-17.
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