I’m in the early stages of crunching data from a study exploring happiness, subjective age, and relationships – both the romantic and platonic kind.
While people in long-term relationships reported being happier than those flying solo through life, don’t assume that a permanent romantic relationship is the key to lifelong happiness. Many people are much happier if they are not in a relationship than if they are. And good friendships are every bit as important as a spouse when it comes to happiness.
Having an “adequate number of friends in life” -- however you define that number -- is a positive predictor of life satisfaction.
And on a related note, the more friends you believe to be the “perfect number,” the higher your level of life satisfaction -- up to a point. Having four to six good friends was considered ideal by the happiest people; beyond that, happiness levels began falling. Maybe with more than six, you start forgetting birthdays – or, even worse, names!
Another key predictor was subjective age, which is the age you feel yourself to be, regardless of your actual age. Feeling younger than you are predicts higher levels of life satisfaction -- especially the older you get.
And those who enjoy keeping up with friends on social media platforms tend to report higher levels of life satisfaction.
If you want to increase your happiness, focus on enhancing friendships and spending time doing the things that leave you feeling young at heart. These are easy ways to end the summer on a high note.
And don’t forget: Post a pic on Facebook or it didn’t happen!
I’m Suzanne Degges-White, and that’s my perspective.
