In an interesting article published yesterday, we noted a new study of 5,000 people that looked at their emotional states over 20 years.

The researchers found that while happiness may spread through a person’s social network of friends, neighbors and family (“contagious” may be too strong a word, since the effect is not really like a virus), sadness did not.

Using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Index (a standard metric) that study participants completed, the researchers found that when an individual becomes happy, a friend living within a mile experiences a 25 percent increased chance of becoming happy. A co-resident spouse experiences an 8 percent increased chance, siblings living within one mile have a 14 percent increased chance, and for next door neighbors, 34 percent.

But the real surprise came with indirect relationships. Again, while an individual becoming happy increases his friend’s chances, a friend of that friend experiences a nearly 10 percent chance of increased happiness, and a friend of that friend has a 5.6 percent increased chance—a three-degree cascade. [...]

They also found that, contrary to what your parents taught you, popularity does lead to happiness. People in the center of their network clusters are the most likely people to become happy, odds that increase to the extent that the people surrounding them also have lots of friends. However, becoming happy does not help migrate a person from the network fringe to the center. Happiness spreads through the network without altering its structure.

This is a fascinating finding and would be interesting to see it replicated in modern times, and to our online social networks. Could a 2nd level online network connection experience greater levels of happiness because of your own happiness?

Since connections online are so less physically-based than our face-to-face connections, a characteristic the current study found important, it suggests that these findings may not replicate as robustly online.

Another interesting part of the study was how the researchers found the data — through handwritten administrative tracking sheets dating back to 1971 from the Framingham Heart Study that had previously been locked away.

Read the full article: Happiness Is Contagious

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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Catch Happyness From Your Friends « Balancenusa’s Weblog (12/7/2008)

    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 6 Dec 2008
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