This paper borrows insights from the literature on European welfare regimes to analyse the relationship between happiness and participation in adult education. The academic literature and policy discourses on adult education tend to claim that participation in learning is correlated with happiness despite the lack of strong European comparative empirical evidence on this topic. This paper uses data from the latest Wave of the European Social Survey to analyse the happiness perceptions of nearly 20,000 adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who live in 16 European countries (15 European Union countries and the United Kingdom). Results indicate that while adult learners on average tend to be happier than non-learners, this correlation weakens when controlling for determinants of participation and happiness and for the countries in which these adults live. Confirming the importance of welfare regimes, this study found that adults in Finland tend to be happier than those in other countries, regardless of their participation in adult education. Happiness scores were lowest in Bulgaria and Hungary, countries with low participation rates in adult education and with the biggest differences in happiness scores between learners and non-learners. It is argued that the presence of well-structured adult learning provision might be an important characteristic of welfare regimes but that happiness is determined by much more than being an adult learner.

本文借鉴了有关欧洲福利制度的文献的见解，以分析幸福与成人教育参与之间的关系。关于成人教育的学术文献和政策论述倾向于声称，尽管缺乏关于该主题的强有力的欧洲比较经验证据，但参与学习与幸福相关。本文使用最新的欧洲社会调查浪潮中的数据来分析居住在16个欧洲国家（15个欧盟国家和英国）中的近20,000名25至64岁之间的成年人的幸福感。结果表明，虽然成年学习者平均比非学习者更快乐，当控制参与和幸福感的决定因素以及这些成年人所居住的国家时，这种相关性减弱。这项研究证实了福利制度的重要性，发现芬兰成年人比其他国家的成年人更快乐，无论他们参加成人教育如何。在保加利亚和匈牙利，成人教育参与率较低的国家，学习者和非学习者之间的幸福感得分差异最大的国家，其幸福感得分最低。有人认为，结构良好的成人学习规定的存在可能是福利制度的一个重要特征，但幸福不仅仅是由成人学习者决定的。这项研究发现，芬兰的成年人比其他国家的成年人更快乐，无论他们参加成人教育如何。在保加利亚和匈牙利，成人教育参与率较低的国家，学习者和非学习者之间的幸福感得分差异最大的国家，其幸福感得分最低。有人认为，结构良好的成人学习规定的存在可能是福利制度的一个重要特征，但幸福不仅仅是由成人学习者决定的。这项研究发现，芬兰的成年人比其他国家的成年人更快乐，无论他们参加成人教育如何。在保加利亚和匈牙利，成人教育参与率较低的国家，学习者和非学习者之间的幸福感得分差异最大的国家，其幸福感得分最低。有人认为，结构良好的成人学习规定的存在可能是福利制度的一个重要特征，但幸福不仅仅是由成人学习者决定的。