The aim of this study was to comprehend children's description of the experience of being happy as well as the appearance of a happy person. Age range and socioeconomic level were analyzed. Two hundred children, aged from 5 to 12 years-old, from public and private schools located in Porto Alegre ,Brazil, participated in the study. Children were interviewed individually about what it means to be happy and how a happy person looks like. As for the experience of being happy, children mentioned more positive feelings and a sense of positive self. Private school children cited more leisure activities, whilst public school children referred more to the need to satisfy basic needs and personal desires. More than half of the children interviewed described a happy person through positive subjective characteristics, mainly answers given by boys. Results are discussed based on the available literature, with implications to the assessment of subjective well-being and life satisfaction in childhood.
Children; happiness; child welfare
