Happiness, Life Satisfaction and Emotional Exhaustion Among University Students in Spain and Germany: Exploratory Between-Sample Comparisons

University students are increasingly exposed to academic and emotional demands associated with burnout and psychological distress in contemporary higher education contexts. Objective: This study examined academic-context well-being indicators, multidimensional happiness and global life satisfaction among university students in Spain and Germany, as well as their associations with burnout and compassion-related variables. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional study with exploratory between-sample comparisons was conducted using a convenience sample of university students from both countries. Measures assessing academic-context well-being indicators, global life satisfaction, multidimensional happiness, burnout-related dimensions and compassion-related variables were administered. Analyses included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations, gender comparisons and exploratory between-sample observed-score comparisons using Welch’s independent-samples t-tests with Holm adjustment for multiple comparisons. Results: Descriptive findings indicated positive scores on several well-being indicators alongside burnout-related strain. Global life satisfaction was positively associated with dimensions of happiness and inversely associated with burnout-related indicators. No significant gender differences were observed. After Holm adjustment, statistically significant observed-score differences between the two samples remained for 10 of the 17 indicators examined. The largest differences were observed for compassion satisfaction, ProQOL burnout and expected job satisfaction. Conclusions: The exploratory comparisons indicated a domain-specific pattern of observed-score differences between the Spanish and German samples rather than a general well-being advantage for either group. The results highlight the relevance of promoting student well-being and addressing burnout-related strain while considering the contextual characteristics of different university settings.