Abstract:
The purposes of this study were to examine and compare a level of happiness among
people living in Tha Change Municipality, Chantaburi Province as classified by gender, age,
educational level, occupation, and income status. The indexes of happiness comprised different
aspects, including good hygiene, fair and strong economy, warm family, strong community,
balance and ecological environment, participation and democracy in the community. The
population taking parting this study was 359 people, living in Tha Change Municipality,
Chantaburi Province. The instrument used to collect the data was a 26-item-questionnaire with 4
interval rating scales with the level of confidence at 0.752. The statistical tests used to analyze the
data included frequency, percentage, means, and standard deviation.
The results of the study revealed that the level of happiness among people living
in Tha Change Municipality, Chantaburi Province was at a high level. When classified based on
gender, age, educational level, occupation, income, and status, it was shown that the majority of
participants were female, aged 20-29, being married, holding a high school/lower vocational
certificate, owning a private business or getting general hiring with an average income of
15,000 -20,000 baht. When considering each happiness index, the one in relation to warm family
was rated the highest, followed by the indexes of participation and democracy in the community,
strong community, balance and ecological environment, fair and strong economy, and good
hygiene, respectively. All of these were rated at a good level. When comparing the differences
between pairs, the statistically significant differences were found in the level of happiness among
the participants holding different educational level, occupation, and an amount of income. Also,
based on the result concerning a strong community, it was shown that a meeting or discussion
among people for developing and solving different problems in the community was rated the
lowest. Thus, this researcher suggested that everyone in the community should take part in different activities organized by Tha Change Municipality. This might result in the promotion of
happiness, love, and harmony among people in the community.