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Rowan University

Life satisfaction: a study of undergraduate and graduate students

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The stresses of life that college students face can be overwhelming at times and may affect the student's satisfaction with life. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors in student's lives that diminish their life satisfaction, and to examine which group of students had a lower life satisfaction in each area. Participants in this study were all Rowan University undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in Psychology courses. Within the study, there were 57 total participants, 30 of which were undergraduate students and 27 graduate students. In addition, 47 participants were females while only 10 were males. Participants ranged in age from 20-49 years old. All participants of the study filled out a shortened version of the Quality of Life Questionnaire created by Bigelow, Olsen, Smoyer, and Stewart (1991), and also their own demographic information on the survey. Data derived was run through the SPSS analysis system, and T-Tests were conducted on the data. Results of this study both supported and disproved the hypotheses finding that graduate students do have lesser life satisfaction, but not in all areas of their lives. In addition it was also revealed that students who were working have a slightly lower life satisfaction level than those who were unemployed.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
M.A. School Psychology-Professional School Psychology
Level thesis:degree_level
Thesis
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Psychology
Year dc:date.available
2010

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Behlau, Stacy
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Dihoff, Roberta
  • Klanderman, John

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/36
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:rdw.rowan.edu:etd-1035

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Rowan University
Base URL
rdw.rowan.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Behlau, Stacy. Life satisfaction: a study of undergraduate and graduate students. Thesis thesis, 2010. https://rdw.rowan.edu/etd/36