The Effect of Social Support on the Feeling of Happiness of Children Using Community Child Care Centers

Background/Objectives: This study aims to find the community care center children’s level of awareness of the social support including teachers at the centers and its influence on children’s feeling of happiness. Methods/Statistical Analysis: This research conducted a self-reported survey on 235 children in the 4th~6th grade in elementary school, who attend a community child care center in the city of Cheong-Ju, North Chung-cheong province. Questionnaires were filed in and collected by personal visit to 30 community child care centers in 4 districts in the city of Cheong-Ju from March 18 to April 4, 2015. To verify the influence of social support on children’s happiness, various analyses were conducted including analysis of frequency, independent sample t-test, Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA), correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis using basic statistical analysis SPSS 18.0. Findings: The result of analysis on the level of social support depending on children’s socio-demographic variables, female students perceived the social support of their teachers to be higher than male students and the higher grades are the more support they get from friends. Analysis on children’s feeling of happiness depending on socio-demographic variables - sex, grade at school, household financial status, time of communication, type of family and the period of using child care center - showed meaningful difference. In this study, in order to analyze the effect of social support for children using community child care center on their feeling of happiness, multiple regression analysis was conducted. Related variables are socio-demographic and social support. Application/Improvements: This study showed that children’s happiness is influenced by the level of support of their friends, family and center teachers. It implies that beyond the individual approach to the children using community child care centers, practical approaches are needed such as programs that incorporate children’s friendship and family relationship.