How to Be Happier: My Issue with an 80 Year Harvard Study
I’ve been wanting to write a blog post on happiness and how to be happier for a while now. During my research, I came across a study out of Harvard on how to be happier that has been going on for over 80 years!
However, after reading about the study and watching a TED talk given by the 4th director of the study, the blog post quickly went in a different direction than I thought it would.
You would think that a study out of Harvard would be credible, especially one that started over 80 years ago. And the fact that the study has been funded by grants from the NIH (National Institutes of Health), the National Institute of Mental Health, and recently the National Institute of Aging would only add to its cachet.
But, to quote the great college football announcer, Lee Corso, “not so fast my friends!”
Before we get to my issue with the study, let’s first take a look at…
“The Study”
Way back in 1938, researchers at Harvard began to track the health of 238 of its sophomore students. The idea was to conduct a longitudinal study that would reveal keys on how to be happier and live healthy and happy lives.
Of the original 238 subjects in the study, only 19 are still alive. However, eventually, the researchers expanded the study to include the offspring of the subjects, which now total 1,300 with most of them in their 50’s and 60’s.
The researchers have tracked these people and their offspring throughout their lives, including successes and failures in both their careers and their marriages. The idea was to see which factors were the biggest predictors of people being happy later in life.
The Findings
So, what have the researchers learned from the 80+ year study on how to be happier? Interestingly, and probably not surprising to most of us, they have learned that it isn’t money, fame, or working longer and harder that makes us happy.
Nope, what they have learned is that there is something else that makes us happier and healthier and that is…good relationships!
More specifically, there are 3 lessons they have learned about relationships:
(1) Social relationships are great for us, while loneliness kills:
People who are socially connected to friends, family, and community live longer and happier lives than those who are not socially connected.
(2) High-quality connections are more important than the number of connections:
The takeaway here is that having conflict in your relationships, such as high-conflict marriages, is bad for your health. On the other hand, being in warm and good relationships is protective. They found that those who were most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were healthiest and happiest at age 80. In fact, they found relationship satisfaction at 50 a better predictor of health and happiness at 80 than cholesterol levels!
(3) Good relationships protect our brains:
The last lesson they found was with respect to how being in secure and attached relationships protected not only their bodies but their brains as well. They found that those who were in relationships where they could count on their partner in their 80’s had sharper memories for longer than those who felt they couldn’t count on their partner.
Ok, sounds reasonable enough, right? I think we could all agree with the advice they give.
Before We Get to the Problem I Have with the Study…
…let’s recall a recent video where my mentor and Prime Your Pump co-blogger, Howie gave the following words of advice, “Whenever you read about a scientific study, you just cannot blindly accept the results – don’t believe everything you read. You may want to check with an expert to see if the results are valid.”
While I Do Think There May Be Something to Their Conclusions…
It does seem pretty obvious that being in good relationships would lead people to be happier and healthier. – DUH!
Plus, there is other research that backs up their claims on how to be happier. For example, a meta-analysis across 148 studies including over 300,000 participants showed “a 50% increased likelihood of survival for participants with stronger social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, cause of death, and follow-up period.” 1
Here is the Problem…
Actually, I am going to let you see if you can uncover what is problematic with the study. So, just read through the description of the study straight from the Harvard website on the Study of Adult Development and see if anything sticks out to you:
“The Study of Adult Development is a longitudinal study that has been following two groups of men over the last 80 years to identify the psychosocial predictors of healthy aging. We have two groups of participants: The Grant Study that is composed of 268 Harvard graduates from the classes of 1939-1944 and the Glueck Study group that is made up of 456 men who grew up in the inner-city neighborhoods of Boston. We are particularly interested in what psychosocial variables and biological processes from earlier in life predict health and well-being in late life (the 80s and the 90s), what aspects of childhood and adult experience predict the quality of intimate relationships in late life, and how late-life marriage is linked with health and well-being. Now we are beginning to study the children of our original participants in our G2 (Second Generation) study.” 2
As I am sure you spotted, the problem is that…
The Study Was Conducted Only on Men!
He does say that 10 years ago they started inviting wives to participate, but what does that really mean in the grand scheme of the study? Not much. That is a bias in itself, the women selected were not selected randomly, they are the wives of the male subjects!
The problem is this, the study was conducted on men, yet they project the results and their conclusions as being representative of the entire population, including women.
On one hand, when he speaks about the study he talks about “men”, yet when he talks about the results he speaks about “people”.
Therefore, after watching the talk, one would conclude that men = people. To say this study shows what makes men happy is one thing, but saying it shows what makes “people” happy is erroneous.
What about women? What about their happiness?
The fact that they excluded women is only part of what makes the study faulty. They are only studying a small group of men, in a certain geographical region of the United States. Who knows what the results would be if the study were conducted in other parts of the world? And what about other factors such as economic status, and race?
Here is More Food for Thought
In a previous blog post we discussed that correlation does not always imply causation and that to say “A” causes “B” you must meet 3 conditions:
(1) There is a correlation between “A” and “B”.
(2) That “A” always precedes “B”.
(3) There is not something else going on that could make “A” look like it caused “B”.
It does seem like there is a correlation between having good relationships and how to be happier.
However, how do we know that good relationships cause us to be healthier and happier rather than the fact that our being healthy and happy is causing us to have good relationships?
Furthermore, how do we know that there are no other causes for people being happy and healthy such as socioeconomic status, where you live, and other demographic factors?
One Final Thought
While I obviously have major concerns about this study on how to be happier, there is one positive realization I had after reading it.
The fact that they failed to include women is, on one hand, a big problem.
But on the other hand, it just shows how far the women’s movement has created incredible progress since the study began back in 1938, and that is a good thing!
Until next time, keep building those good relationships and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick
What Do You Think – How to Be Happier
What are your thoughts on the study of how to be happier? Were you surprised that the study included only men but projected results across the entire population? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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References
1 https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000316
I was not surprised that at that time the study only included men ; therefore, it is cannot be applied to the whole population. I think happiness does include positive relationships with family and friends. It also includes other factors. Financial freedom ( not wealth) but enough to sustain a comfortable life, good health, a spiritual sense of whatever your belief system is are all important . The variables change somewhat with age. As a senior , knowing your children are fulfilled in their lives also adds to contentment. I suppose one might conclude having a balanced life leads to happiness . Having something to look forward to every day bring me joy.
Hi Eileen, agreed – there are many factors that create happiness and I believe they probably evolve as we age. Thanks for commenting, Rick