Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to study meaning of happiness according to single womens perception and its related factors. Participants were 12 single never married women age 35 and above, who were not in relationships with anyone in the past 3 years or more, in Bangkok area. Data were collected by in-depth interview together with researchers observation and personal notes, analyzed by the phenomenology qualitative research method. Interview dialogues were analyzed and found that happiness of single women can be devided into 4 themes as follows; first theme was happiness of single women. There were 4 types; 1) Contentment: satisfied with ones global life 2) Freedom: felt free to do thing as wished, nothing to worried about 3) Self-detemination: had power in making ones own decision 4) Self-composed:known and understood oneself and environment resulted in perceptions chaged which lead to mental stability. Second theme supported factors in living happily in single state. There were 4 factors; 1) Successed in work: had satisfied work, successed and happied with that work and gained acceptance 2) Had family support: family always supported with no pressured about marriage 3) Had good friends: had friends to consult with when needed 4) Had activities to do: had activities to relieved lonliness and brought happy to life. Third theme was things that affected happiness and ways to recovered it such as detachment, planning, positive thinking, flexible, living in present, and rationalize. Last theme was things that affected decision of being single, negative attitude towards married life and positive attitude towards single life, which lead women to stay single.