Social relationships are the most influence on our happiness.
It is human nature to crave attention and affection from others. Innately, it is also human nature to want to be wanted and feel loved, seen and valued. All these are qualities and feelings that come from the relationships we form in our lives with our friends, family, and other people we interact with on a day to day basis. Tons of research indicates that good social relationships make us happier. Not only that but that the quality of friendships and social connections we form are capable of affecting the quality of our life and how long we also live. In this paper, we will explore how social relationships can influence our happiness.
Friendships provide companionship, intimacy, and help, which helps increase one’s satisfaction in life and thus, happiness. In a survey by Amati, Meggiolaro, Rivellini, and Zaccarin (7) on the role of friends in influencing one’s social satisfaction found that people with more quality friendship circles made up of active social relationships indicated being happier and more satisfied with their lives. Friendships provide one with social security that helps affirm an individual’s sense of self and satisfying their need for belonging. Friendships offer one a sense of positive affirmation. In times of need, friendships provide a reliable pool of help to individuals in need. Together, all these factors help feed one’s innate desire for companionship and intimacy. The more the number of people an individual can trust, the more their sense of camaraderie and intimacy, and hence the higher their levels of satisfaction and happiness. It is irrefutable, thus that one’s friendship circle will affect his or her levels of happiness.
Social relationships also influence one’s happiness by affecting both their mental and physical health. Not only do friends help encourage one to participate in healthy habits physically, but research has also shown the immense mental impacts of friendships. Among them, susceptibility to psychological distress, and even their body’s immunity systems. Myers (56-67) showed how social factors are linked to one’s ability to fight disease. Nguyen (1) linked the quality of friendships to one’s susceptibility to stress and mental health disorders. In simple terms, social relationships enrich one’s life due to the ability of friends to stimulate the desire for a healthier life in an individual.
Some people may argue that friendships do not necessarily affect our levels of happiness and prioritize other factors such as work and money. Still, research lately is disapproving of this concept. Mogilmer (1348-1354) compared all these variables previously linked to happiness: time, money, and social connection, and inadvertently, the social connection was the most critical factor in influencing one’s happiness.
From our findings, it is only right to say that the happiest people are the most social ones. Social relationships do influence our happiness by helping us have a sense of self and belonging. Friends are the ones that help us get through rough times; they challenge us to be our best selves. It is, therefore, crucial for all of us to invest in our social relationships to improve the quality of our friendships.
Works cited.
Amati, Viviana et al. “Social relations and life satisfaction: the role of friends.” Genus vol. 74,1 (2018): 7. doi:10.1186/s41118-018-0032-z
Mogilner, Cassie. “The Pursuit of Happiness: Time, Money, and Social Connection.” Psychological Science, vol. 21, no. 9, 2010, pp. 1348–1354. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41062376. Accessed 2 May 2020.
Myers DG. “The funds, friends, and faith of happy people.” American Psychologist. 2000;55(1):56–67. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.56.
Nguyen, A. W., Chatters, L. M., Taylor, R. J., & Mouzon, D. M. “Social support from family and friends and subjective well-being of older African Americans.” Journal of Happiness Studies. 2015, 10.1007/s10902-015-9626-8.