This paper presents results from a study exploring representations of “happiness” and “unhappiness.” Word associations with these concepts were produced by 16–18 and 29–34-year-old women from Finland, the country that the United Nation’s World Happiness Report has ranked the “happiest” in the world. Correspondence Analysis (CA) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis show that participants in both age groups share three clusters of words associated with “happiness”: Tangible happiness, Affective happiness and Serene happiness. We noted more differences in the associations with “unhappiness,” for which the two groups share only two clusters: Loss and Everyday problems. A distinct third cluster, Affective unhappiness, emerged for the younger women, whereas older women’s associations are further differentiated into a more complex structure, including two more clusters: Dejection and Apprehension. Additionally, CA shows that in both age groups, self-reported happiness levels do not discriminate which words are associated with happiness and unhappiness. Finally, qualitative content analysis of a questionnaire item investigating how to reach complete happiness suggested that there are three recurring answer types: happiness can be improved through external changes, internal changes, or not at all because complete/permanent happiness does not exist. The study provides a methodological design which, unlike most happiness studies, allows participants the freedom to bring up the meaning of happiness and unhappiness. Thus, the study constitutes a contribution to a more nuanced understanding of happiness.

本文提出了一项探索“幸福”和“不幸福”表示的研究结果。与这些概念相关的词语联想是由芬兰的16-18岁和29-34岁的妇女制作的，而芬兰在《世界幸福报告》中名列世界上“最幸福”的国家。对应分析（CA）和层次聚类分析表明，两个年龄段的参与者共享与“幸福”相关的三个词组：有形的幸福，情感的幸福和宁静的幸福。我们注意到与“不快乐”的联想之间存在更多差异，因为这两个群体仅共享两个集群：损失和日常问题。一个独特的第三类，情感上的不快乐，出现在年轻妇女身上，而老年妇女协会则进一步分化为一个更复杂的结构，包括另外两个类别：沮丧和恐惧。此外，CA还显示，在两个年龄组中，自我报告的幸福水平均无法区分与幸福和不幸福相关的单词。最后，对调查问卷项目进行定性内容分析以研究如何获得完全幸福，这表明存在三种重复出现的答案类型：可以通过外部变化，内部变化或根本不改善幸福，因为不存在完全/永久幸福。与大多数幸福研究不同，该研究提供了一种方法设计，使参与者可以自由地表达幸福和不幸福的含义。因此，这项研究有助于对幸福的更细微的了解。