This seems fitting as Toy Story 3 came to Redbox yesterday.
This article looks at the relationship between happiness and friendships. One important element of this study was that it controlled for personality, as personality has strong ties to happiness levels. Nueroticism is inversely correlated with happiness while extroversion is positively correlated with happiness. The study used the Big 5 as indicator of personality, then controlled for those tendencies. After controlling for personality, the researchers hypothesized that it friendships would have a relationship with happiness. The friendships were studied in terms of closeness and conflict. In addition, the length of the relationship was studied.
The findings of this article are not surprising, as the basic finding was that quality of friendships was more important than quantity. Most people could tell you this without conducting a scientific study, but their other results were significant and (to me) interesting. Relationships which have high levels of companionship, meaning that you enjoy spending time together and doing several activities together brings greater life satisfaction. Another finding is that friendships in which one person can gain self-validation, either positive or negative, is one likely to increase their happiness level. In layman's terms, people like to spend time with friends and when their friends opinion of the person and their own opinion of themselves match.
What do you think is most important in friendships? Which of your friends makes you happiest? Why do you think that is? (As a side-note, these questions are all rhetorical- don't feel obligated to answer them, just food for thought.)
Demir, M. Weitekamp, L. (2006) I am so happy cause today I found my friend: Friendship and Personality as Predictors of Happiness. Journal of Happiness Studies 8:181-211
Loved Toy Story 3! Anyway, the article seems pretty interesting to me too. Relating it to my own friendships, I can see how some are stronger than others and how well our personalities mesh is an important factor. My roommates are also some of my best friends, and we always have fun spending time together because we like to do the same things. I don't think college would be as enjoyable for me if I didn't have close friends to hang out with, so I can see how the research makes sense
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting study. The sociologist in me is curious to see how they coded for the factors in friendships like closeness and conflict. The findings are mostly consistent with what I've experienced in my different friendships. The quality of the friendship has always been the most important thing to me.
ReplyDeleteI loved Toy Story 3 as well! I actually saw it twice in theaters!
ReplyDeleteI agree that quality is better than quantity. The friendships that I value most are the ones that I like spending time with or even just talking with. Having some common interests makes it enjoyable for us to hang out, but also having different opinions makes it so that I can get advice from them on certain things and see things from a different view.