Abstract

The place of positive emotions such as happiness and its relationship with natural disasters like drought is ambiguous; therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore the impact of drought on happiness in rural Iran using a causal-comparative research design. The findings revealed that drought significantly reduced the happiness of rural people, and variables such as; intensity of drought, perceived drought impact, welfare and well-being poverty lead to more reduction of happiness during drought. A typology of happiness was provided to explain the findings of this study. It is concluded that the relatively high level of happiness among respondents is a "tactical happiness" used to cope with drought.

Key words: Happiness, drought, Oxford happiness inventory, Iran.