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What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness | Robert Waldinger

2 comments

  1. Nitta
    Link
    Also here's an approximate transcript from a discussion on reddit.

    Also here's an approximate transcript from a discussion on reddit.

    1 vote
  2. mb3077
    Link
    More interesting conclusions from the Wiki article: Some of these conclusions look a bit anecdotal and sketchy to me. But still really interesting! I also didn't find any criticisms of the study...

    More interesting conclusions from the Wiki article:

    • Alcoholism is a disorder of great destructive power.
      - Alcoholism was the main cause of divorce between the Grant Study men and their wives.
      - Strongly correlates with neurosis and depression, which tended to follow alcohol abuse, rather than precede it.
      - Together with associated cigarette smoking, was the single greatest contributor to their early morbidity and death.
    • Financial success depends on warmth of relationships and, above a certain level, not on intelligence.
      - Those who scored highest on measurements of "warm relationships" earned an average of $141,000 a year more at their peak salaries (usually between ages 55 and 60).
      - No significant difference in maximum income earned by men with IQs in the 110–115 range and men with IQs higher than 150.
    • Political mindedness correlates with intimacy: Aging liberals have more sex.
      - The most-conservative men ceased sexual relations at an average age of 68.
      - The most-liberal men had active sex lives into their 80s.
    • The warmth of childhood relationship with mothers matters long into adulthood:
      - Men who had "warm" childhood relationships with their mothers earned an average of $87,000 more a year than men whose mothers were uncaring.
      - Men who had poor childhood relationships with their mothers were much more likely to develop dementia when old.
      - Late in their professional lives, the men's boyhood relationships with their mothers—but not with their fathers—were associated with effectiveness at work.
      - The warmth of childhood relationships with mothers had no significant bearing on "life satisfaction" at 75.
    • The warmth of childhood relationship with fathers correlated with:
      - Lower rates of adult anxiety.
      - Greater enjoyment of vacations.
      - Increased "life satisfaction" at age 75.

    Some of these conclusions look a bit anecdotal and sketchy to me. But still really interesting! I also didn't find any criticisms of the study online.

    I presume that there are other factors to happiness such as financial stability, good genes, minimal environmental stress (such as having good neighbors and not living under a corrupt government).

    1 vote