In 1938, at the end of the Great Depression, scientists at Harvard University started tracking the health of 724 individuals, a combination of Harvard sophomores and low-income teenage boys in Boston. The goal was simple enough: Follow the participants’ lives — from childhood woes to their final days — in order to learn what makes a person happy and healthy.
Today, 85 years later, the Harvard Study of Adult Development is considered one of the world’s longest-running studies of adult life and human happiness. During that time, the researchers collected detailed personal information alongside a trove of data from the participants, including DNA samples and brain scans, as the study’s scope expanded to include more than 1,300 offspring of the original subjects.
Over the course of nine decades (and three generations), one key finding emerged: Close relationships, not wealth or fame or even IQ, are the secret ingredient for a happy life.
“The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health,” said Robert Waldinger, the study’s current director and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in an article in the Harvard Gazette. “Taking care of your body is important, but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care, too. That, I think, is the revelation.”
Turns out, there's plenty that research can reveal about the pursuit of happiness — and the best ways to secure some for yourself.
