This project asked 32 rangatahi from across Aotearoa about how they understand and experience happiness. It aims to provide clearer insight as to the role happiness plays in overall mental health and well-being and how it affects young people’s thoughts of their future.

Young people aged between 12 and 19 were invited to participate in an ‘asynchronous’ interview, where they were sent messages containing the interview questions. Due to there being no live interviewer, participants were able to review and answer the questions at a time and space that best suited them. They were asked to use the voice recording function within the messaging app to record and send their responses.

Data analysis included using reflexive thematic analysis approaches to explore and understand the rich and complex dataset. Four main themes were created from this process and reveal the complexity and nuance in within subjective happiness experiences of young people.

This piece is still under construction so keep an eye and ear out for future developments as it progresses.

Any questions or queries? Please feel free to email me at:

victoria.leggett@pg.canterbury.ac.nz