Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
Inspired by Hills & Argyle's Oxford Happiness Research
Measure your overall happiness and psychological well-being with this assessment inspired by the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire research. Answer honestly based on how you generally feel, not just today.
How This Works
You'll see 29 statements about your feelings and attitudes. Rate each one from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). There are no right or wrong answers.
Your Results
Happiness Assessment Complete
What Your Score Means
Things to Consider
The Science Behind This Assessment
From the Research
"The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire includes similar items to those of the original Oxford Happiness Inventory, each presented as a single statement on a uniform six-point Likert scale. The revised instrument is compact, easy to administer and allows endorsements over an extended range."
— Hills, P. & Argyle, M. (2002). The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire: A Compact Scale for the Measurement of Psychological Well-being . Personality and Individual Differences, 33(7), 1073-1082.
The original Oxford Happiness Inventory was developed in 1989 by Michael Argyle and colleagues at Oxford University. The updated questionnaire format (2002) simplified the response scale while keeping the same psychological foundations.
"Sequential factor analyses identified a single factor, suggesting the construct of well-being it measures is uni-dimensional."
— Hills & Argyle (2002)
The questionnaire measures subjective happiness as a single construct. Research shows it correlates strongly with other well-being measures and personality traits like extraversion (positive) and neuroticism (negative).
How Scores Are Interpreted
The average score is around 4.0. Scores below 3.0 may indicate lower than typical happiness, while scores above 5.0 suggest high psychological well-being. A score of exactly 6.0 is rare.
How We Built This Assessment
This tool is inspired by the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire research but uses our own adapted question wording. Here's our approach:
- Reviewed the original Hills & Argyle (2002) research paper and methodology
- Created 29 statements that capture the same psychological constructs
- Used the same 6-point agreement scale and reverse-scoring approach
- Applied the same scoring formula: average of all items (1.0 to 6.0 range)
- Interpretation bands based on published normative guidance
Important: This is an independent educational tool, not the official Oxford Happiness Questionnaire. We are not affiliated with Oxford University or the original scale authors. For research purposes, please refer to the original published instrument.
Common Questions
No. The original OHQ was published by Peter Hills and Michael Argyle in 2002 in Personality and Individual Differences. Our assessment is inspired by the same research and measures the same construct (subjective happiness) but uses adapted item wording. We are not affiliated with Oxford University or the original authors.
Both assessments use 29 statements on a 6-point agreement scale to measure overall psychological well-being. The original OHQ was derived from the earlier Oxford Happiness Inventory (1989) and was validated as a unidimensional measure. Our version adapts the item wording while preserving the same scoring approach (average of all items, range 1.0 to 6.0).
Understanding This Assessment
A few things to keep in mind about what this tool can and cannot tell you.