Gender, Sexual Orientation and Manifestations of Happiness of the Students of the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano

Abstract

The study identifies the happiness manifestations according to gender and sexual orientation of the students of the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano. A mixed methodology with an exploratory-descriptive nonexperimental design was used, and a semi-structured interview and a survey were applied to 2779 university students. The influence of family, friends, colleagues, and teachers on students’ happiness was examined. The results show that gender devices have an influence on subjective well-being; in addition, they reveal the existence of a population with a sexual orientation different from those socially institutionalized as feminine and masculine and which needs to be made visible in university life, especially in the Andean region. The finding, finally, recognizes the needs of students, who, in view of the structures and power relations of a traditional, patriarchal, discriminatory, and homophobic culture in the university space, it is urgent that the institutional management attend to their situation in order to assume inclusive policies and achieve high levels of happiness.