Friends or family? Which group of people make us happiest?
People report feeling happier when they are with their friends than their family, research finds.
However, this is probably because of the type of activities that people tend to do with their friends compared with their family.
With friends, people do more enjoyable activities, such as going to restaurants, sports or visiting new places.
In comparison, with families people do more mundane tasks, like chores and caretaking.
The study reveals a positive view of the family, says Dr Nathan Hudson, the study’s first author:
“Our study suggests that this [feeling happier while with friends] doesn’t have to do with the fundamental nature of kith versus kin relationships.
When we statistically controlled for activities, the ‘mere presence’ of children, romantic partners, and friends predicted similar levels of happiness.
Thus, this paper provides an optimistic view of family and suggests that people genuinely enjoy their romantic partners and children.”
For the study, over 400 people were asked to think back to activities they had done and rate their happiness and sense of meaning.
Psychologists compared the amount of happiness people felt when around three different groups:
- Friends,
- children,
- and romantic partner.
The results revealed that people were happiest when relaxing, eating and socialising.
People tended to do these activities more often when they were with their friends rather than their families.
Study participants spent 28 percent of their time with their partner socialising, but 65 percent of their time with friends socialising.
Time spent with children was often drudge work, involving housework and ferrying them from one place to another.
However, people viewed childcare positively.
Once the activity was taken out of the equation, people reported having just as much fun with friends as family.
Dr Hudson explains:
“It’s important to create opportunities for positive experiences with romantic partners and children—and to really mentally savor those positive times. In contrast, family relationships that involve nothing but chores, housework, and childcare likely won’t predict a lot of happiness.”
The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Hudson et al., 2020).
