Would spending more time with others make us happier?

We know that social connections contribute to happiness, but do more social connections mean more happiness?

This article reprints self - use data to see the world

In 1938, Harvard researchers began a program to follow the lives of a group of young people that would eventually become one of the longest and most famous longitudinal studies ever conducted. Using regular interviews and medical examinations to track the development of a group of teenage boys, the study aims to understand their health and well-being as they grow up.

Now, more than 80 years later, it's one of the longest-running research programs in the social sciences, called the Harvard Study of Adult Development, and it's still going on. The project began with a study of 724 boys, and researchers continue to monitor the health and well-being of the original participants who are still alive, most of whom are in their 90s.

This is a particular scientific study, and most longitudinal studies don't last this long because many participants may drop out, the researchers may jump into other projects (or die), or the projects end up underfunded.

So what do we learn from this particular study?

The current leader of the study, Robert Waldinger, summarized decades of research in a TED talk that was one of the most watched TED talks to date. He concluded that social connections are one of the most important factors affecting people's happiness and health. Those who stay close live longer and happier lives, while lonely people tend to die earlier.

Here, I'll take a closer look at the evidence and show you more research on the consistent link between social relationships and happiness. But before getting into the details, let me explain why I think this connection is important.

As most people can attest from personal experience, the pursuit of happiness is not easy. In fact, the pursuit of happiness may lead to unhappiness. Studies have shown that actively pursuing happiness can ultimately reduce it.

The data show a clear link between income and happiness; But we also know from surveys that people tend to overestimate the impact of income on happiness. Social connections may be the missing link: in rich countries, where minimal material living conditions are often met, it may be difficult for people to become happier as they pursue material goals rather than social connections.

Horizontal links between social connections and happiness

The World Value Survey (WVS) is a large multinational research project that gathers data from a series of representative national surveys. In its fourth survey (1999-2004), the World Values Survey asked respondents hundreds of life-related questions, such as being a member of a social or religious group? How much time do you spend with your friends? And are you satisfied with your life?

By comparing self-reports of happiness among respondents with and without frequent social connections, we can see whether there is a real link between happiness and social connections in different societies.

In the table below, I show you a comparison: the green dots represent the happiness of people who interact with friends at least once a month; The blue dots represent the happiness of people who interact less with their friends.

The table shows that in almost all countries, people who spend more time with their friends are happier than those who spend less time with them.

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The longitudinal link between social connections and happiness

The picture above shows a typical perspective, comparing the situation of different people at a given point in time. What happens if we look at social relationships and happiness over time?

There is a large academic literature in medicine and psychology that shows that those who report loneliness are more likely to have health problems later in life; Similarly, there are many studies showing that changes in social relationships predict changes in happiness and life satisfaction.

In one study, which cited data from Harvard's famous Study of Adult Development, researchers looked at the experiences of 82 married participants and their spouses and found that those who reported higher levels of partner attachment reported lower levels of depression and higher levels of life satisfaction two and a half years later. Other studies with larger population samples have found similar cross-time associations: perceived social isolation predicts subsequent changes in depression, but not vice versa, and this holds after controlling for demographic variables and stress factors.

Seeking happiness is typically a conscious, positive behavior. Are people happier when they make a conscious decision to improve their social relationships?

It's a tricky experimental question, but a recent study has found evidence to back it up.

Researchers conducted a large, representative survey in Germany in which participants were asked to report in text format their views on how to improve life satisfaction. Based on the answers provided by the participants, the researchers then investigated which types of thoughts predicted changes in life satisfaction one year later.

The researchers found that participants who wrote about social engagement strategies, such as "I plan to spend more time with friends and family," tended to have improved life satisfaction a year later; And participants who wrote about other non-social activities, such as "I plan to get a better job," showed no improvement in life satisfaction.

conclusion

Are we happier when we spend more time with others?

We know from decades of research that good social connections predict mental health over time; According to a recent study, people who take the initiative to improve their social relationships tend to be happier. So, people who spend more time with their friends become happier.

Does this mean that external shocks to our social relationships can have a permanent negative impact on our happiness?

We can't rely on the evidence we have to answer that question. More research is needed to truly understand the causal mechanisms driving the link between happiness and social relationships.

However, having said that, I think we should take the observational evidence we have seriously. In a sense, random shocks have less effective causal effects than active strategies that people adopt to increase their happiness. For example, reports show that divorced people often experience a short-term drop in life satisfaction; But over time, they slowly recover and end up more satisfied with their lives than they were before the divorce.

It makes sense that good social relationships may be a crucial missing piece of human happiness. In addition, it would help explain contradictory findings from studies such as "actively pursuing happiness clearly ends up reducing happiness."