Nidhi Sharma , Shruti Agrawal & Ruut Veenhoven
Accepted for publication in the Journal of Happiness Studies
The issue: It is widely agreed that social bonds should be strengthened, but it is not clear how this can be achieved. One way could be to foster happiness because happiness seems to foster social bonds. If this is the case, two desirable aims can be achieved: happier people and stronger social bonds.
Research questions: Does happiness really foster social bonds? If so, is the effect universal culturally? How strong is the effect?
Method: We took stock of the available research findings, restricting the analysed research to longitudinal studies. We used the World Database of Happiness (WDH), which findings-archive is about happiness in the sense of the subjective enjoyment of one’s life-as-a-whole. To date, this database contains the results of 15 follow-up studies on the relationship between earlier happiness and later social bonds, which together yielded 65 empirical findings.
Results: We found evidence of a causal effect of happiness on the formation and stability of primary social ties, on marriage, love and friendship in particular.
Conclusion: Happiness fosters social bonds. Consequently, fostering happiness can be used as a means to strengthen social bonds. This is another reason for opting for policies that aim at greater happiness for a greater number of people.
Keywords: happiness, social capital, intimate ties, follow-up, research synthesis