Too happy to function? Exploring the hidden strain of happiness across generations in India

India's rich mix of cultures through its religions, family values, and collective traditions deeply shapes how people understand and experience happiness. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory and Affective Expectation Theory, this study examines how happiness norms, pressure of happiness, pursuit of happiness, and fragility of happiness are interrelated and how they jointly relate to subjective well-being across generational cohorts in India. Using survey data from 429 employees analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the findings indicate that happiness norms are positively associated with both the pursuit and fragility of happiness. In contrast, pressure of happiness is negatively associated with the pursuit of happiness but positively associated with emotional fragility. The pursuit of happiness shows a positive association with subjective well-being, whereas the fragility of happiness shows a negative association. Multi-group analyses reveal generational differences in mean levels of happiness-related experiences, with Gen Z reporting higher happiness pressure and fragility and Gen X reporting higher subjective well-being, while structural relationships remain invariant across cohorts. These results highlight the psychological costs of idealized happiness expectations and underscore the importance of autonomy-supportive, generation-sensitive well-being strategies in Indian workplaces. The study contributes to cross-cultural well-being literature by contextualizing happiness within a non-Western, generationally diverse framework and advocating a move from performative happiness norms toward authentic emotional climates.