The key to a happy life has nothing to do with getting ahead at work, making money, or traveling the world. Instead, living your best life and creating meaning is all about one thing: relationships.
A study of adult development has been running at Harvard since 1938, and is now on its second generation of participants—the children of the original study's subjects. Over decades, the research team collected data about their lives, including their physical and mental health, marital (婚姻的) status and quality, career happiness, etc.
They found the most important aspect in how happy and healthy these men were over time was their relationships. In other words: Finding happiness in life is all about the people you love.
The research doesn't only include romantic relationships and marriage. Quality, close relationships are important whether they are in the situation of romantic relationships or closeness between friends or family members. The kind of relationship you have is less important than how close you feel with them.
However, the study only included men, and important gender differences exist in how people experience relationships. Some research suggests that men may benefit more from marriage. But they tend to have a harder time keeping friendships; as men get older, they will more likely say they have nobody to discuss important subjects with. So it's possible that having close relationships throughout their lives might affect men differently than women.
The findings line up with the effects of loneliness. People who are socially isolated have a greater likelihood of strokes (中风), heart attacks, and higher blood pressure, not to mention mental health issues.
Unfortunately for the youngest generations, recent surveys found that young Americans are lonelier than older generations. That will likely have a big impact on how healthy and happy people feel throughout their lives.
