A new study has revealed that happiness is an effective crime deterrent for adolescents. The report was co-authored by University of California - Davis sociology professor Bill McCarthy and UC Davis post-doctoral research Teresa Casey. In the report, "Get Happy! Positive Emotion, Depression and Juvenile Crime," the researchers found that adolescents who expressed happiness and well-being were significantly less likely to commit crimes and use illegal drugs.
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health funded the study, the largest of its kind, to conduct a survey of 15,000 seventh-to-ninth grade students, from 1995 to 1996. Typically, much data about crime is found using an e-discovery tool, but in this case the survey asked the students to tell if they had committed non-violent crime, of which 29 percent indicated that they had at least once. 18 percent had used illegal drugs at least once.
The researchers then looked for correlations between the level of happiness the students expressed and their involvement in crimes and drug usage. They found that happier students (Read More....)
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