[pvankessel]

I love Vaillant's work. His and many other studies definitely point to the importance of relationships as determinants of happiness. We found evidence of the same a few years ago - people who mention their friends and their spouse/partner rate their lives more highly: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/20/americans-w...

What I'm really interested in, though, is not just what the formula for happiness is - it's whether people are actually tapping into the key components of that formula. That is, knowing that strong and healthy relationships bring meaning and satisfaction to life, to what extent do people have and prioritize those relationships?

The fact that our latest research shows family and friends ranking highly around the world suggests that many people are doing just that, but there are other places where there might be room for improvement. For example, compared to four years ago, Americans are half as likely to mention their spouse or romantic partner when describing where they find meaning in life: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/11/18/where-ameri...