Studying basic concepts of happiness in preschool and early elementary school children using the in-depth interview method

<jats:p>&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Context and relevance.&lt;/strong&gt; In early childhood, children develop fundamental understandings of social reality, with the perception of happiness forming a core component. Investigating how children define the key factors contributing to well-being&amp;mdash;particularly happiness and what makes them happy&amp;mdash;is a pressing topic in psychological and pedagogical research. &lt;strong&gt;Objective.&lt;/strong&gt; This study aims to identify children's basic perceptions of happiness and examine how these perceptions vary according to gender, age, cultural background, family structure, and self-reported "level" of happiness. &lt;strong&gt;Methods and materials.&lt;/strong&gt; The study involved a sample of 120 children aged 5 to 9 years (M = 6,6; SD = 1,43). An in-depth interview method was employed. Qualitative data were analyzed using the Delphi approach, qualitative and quantitative content analysis, the Janis coefficient, and Pearson&amp;rsquo;s chi-squared test. &lt;strong&gt;Results.&lt;/strong&gt; The research led to the development of a model of &lt;em&gt;representative fields of happiness&lt;/em&gt; and identified two types of semantic organization in children&amp;rsquo;s perceptions of happiness: &lt;em&gt;balanced&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;need-oriented&lt;/em&gt;. In favorable developmental conditions, children form a balanced semantic structure across the following domains: subjective and objective, individual and social. &lt;strong&gt;Findings. &lt;/strong&gt;Children from different groups exhibit distinct basic perceptions of happiness due to deficiencies or accentuations in the representative fields of happiness, as well as the associated signs and emotions. Children raised in single-parent families and those who report low levels of happiness demonstrate a pronounced imbalance in these fields, with a primary focus on emotional bonds and material desires. The fewer positive traits a child can identify about themselves, the more their perception of happiness depends on the satisfaction of needs.&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p>