Life Satisfaction of Secondary School Students: A Comparative Study with respect to Gender, Income and Educational Status

Authors

  • Vijaysen Pandey
  • Juhee Kumari

Keywords:

Life satisfaction, Gender, Income, Educational Status, Secondary School

Abstract

Life satisfaction is an important cognitive indicator of adolescents’ subjective well-being and reflects how positively they evaluate their lives in relation to their needs, expectations, relationships, and circumstances. The present study examined the life satisfaction of secondary and senior-secondary school students with respect to gender, family income, educational status, and socioeconomic status in Darbhanga district, Bihar. A quantitative, descriptive-comparative design employing the Normative Survey Method was adopted. The sample comprised 400 students, including 200 boys and 200 girls enrolled in Classes IX to XII, selected purposively from schools affiliated with recognised educational boards. Life satisfaction was assessed using the Satisfaction with Life Scale developed by Diener et al. (1985), while socioeconomic status was measured through the Socio-Economic Status Scale developed by Upadhyay and Saxena (2008). The findings revealed that girls reported significantly greater life satisfaction than boys. Students from high-income families demonstrated significantly higher life satisfaction than those from low-income families. The higher educational-status group also exhibited greater life satisfaction than the lower educational-status group. Similarly, students belonging to the high socioeconomic-status group reported substantially higher life satisfaction than their low-SES counterparts. Thus, all the hypotheses formulated for the investigation were supported. The findings demonstrate that adolescent life satisfaction is associated with an interconnected set of personal, economic, educational, and social conditions. The study highlights the need for school-based counselling, financial and academic support, career guidance, mentoring, and equitable access to learning resources, particularly for boys and students from economically, educationally, and socially disadvantaged backgrounds.

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Published

2026-08-26

How to Cite

1.
Pandey V, Kumari J. Life Satisfaction of Secondary School Students: A Comparative Study with respect to Gender, Income and Educational Status. J Neonatal Surg [Internet]. 2026 Aug. 26 [cited 2026 Sep. 12];14(33S):1466-73. Available from: https://jneonatalsurg.com/index.php/jns/article/view/10549

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 33S (2025): Journal of Neonatal Surgery

Section

Original Article

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