MAP Strategic Wealth Advisors

The Lifelong Power of Close Friendships

Six takeaways:

1. The Harvard Study of Adult Development has tracked an original group of 724 men and more than 1,300 of their male and female descendants over three generations, surveying them with hundreds of questions about happiness. They have found that the most important factor in long-term health and happiness are strong personal connections.
2. When the original group reached their 80s, the researchers looked back on their survey answers from the 80s and looked for correlations to their physical health in their later years. The conclusion: those who were happiest in their relationships in their fifties were the healthiest when they reached their eighties.
3. Many studies have reached similar conclusions. A study tracking 3,720 adults in Baltimore since 2004 found that participants who reported receiving more social support also reported less depression. A study based in Dunedin, New Zealand, found that the presence of strong social connections in adolescence proved better than academic achievement at predicting well-being in adulthood.
4. The Harvard Study of Adult Development went so far as to call subjects on multiple consecutive days to track their happiness, and found that in aggregate, people were happier at the end of days in which they’d enjoyed longer social interaction or been around someone they loved.
5. The reason for this may come down to evolution. Human beings have evolved to be social, and the biological processes that encourage socializing are there to protect us. When we do not follow the social urge, our bodies and brains react in ways that are designed to help us survive that isolation.
6. You don’t need to force yourself to be social all of the time, but this article should serve to remind you that building strong relationships now is an investment in your own personal happiness & health later on in life– and by being social, you are helping someone invest in theirs as well!

From Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz at The Wall Street Journal:

Read the whole story.

Note: At the time of this posting The Wall Street Journal requires a subscription to read this article.