Regarding activities on campus, the COMBO II results show that the majority of students report socializing with friends as the activity that makes them the happiest. (Full disclosure: I helped design and analyze the survey.) Background data can also help students make appropriate decisions: For instance, despite all the discussion of a “hookup culture,” no data have been recently published about Princetonians’ actual habits. Back in 2000, only 20.7 percent of students reported having had two or more sexual partners in the past year, but students thought that 67.7 percent had at least two. This “pluralistic ignorance” can encourage students to try to achieve perceived norms, and various campuses have begun “social norms marketing” campaigns so students can try to match true norms.
But nearing graduation, I’m looking at maximizing utility after Princeton based on the findings of nearly four decades of surveys of “subjective well-being.” In the United States, tens of thousands of people have been asked about their level of happiness along with the general quality of other aspects of their lives. Similar surveys about happiness or life satisfaction have been conducted in Europe and various parts of the developed world.
On the whole, the surveys show the importance of keeping family bonds, having a job and having a high income. But the absolute level of income isn’t as important as you might think: According to most research, individuals adapt to a higher income and often place a great deal of value on the income of their friends and family rather than on their absolute income level.
Economist Richard Layard looks at the data on happiness in the United States in his book “Happiness,” and he finds that the most important determinants of happiness are, in order, family relationships, financial situation, work, community and friends, and health. But finding happiness is more complicated than immediately getting married.
While it is true that married people are happier, happier people also tend to get married. Within a few years after marriage, people on average return to their original level of happiness. Instead, it appears as though the primary benefit of marriage is that it creates people who are healthier and live longer. This longevity effect is especially true for men, who have a shorter life expectancy by five years than women. Many men fail to adequately look after their own health and avoid preventative medicine because it would contradict their masculinity, and their wives encourage them to seek treatments. Men actually (mis)report their health as being better than women’s on the survey.
As for income, people adapt by two-thirds to an income change after a few years. The relative income of your close friends and those in your social network also matters a lot and further reduces the value of any pay change. If you and those close to you get the same raise, you will only feel as though you received a raise two-thirds of its actual value. In a fascinating study, Harvard undergrads said they would prefer making $50,000 if the average income were $25,000 rather than $100,000 in a world with an average income of $250,000. While we surely know better than our peers at Harvard, these adaptation and relative income effects mean a $10,000 pay raise may only be worth about $2,000 to you in three or four years. On a scale of one to three, an increase in income of 10 percent only leads to a long-term increase in happiness of about 0.01 or 0.02.
Researchers in such publications as the Journal of Happiness Studies also noted how a given income loss is twice as bad as an equivalent gain, a long commute to work significantly reduces well being and becoming unemployed is terrible. Having goals related to one’s values and a philosophy or religion that gives guidance and meaning to one’s life also help. The Danes are the happiest people in the world, and they have relatively modest expectations, helping insulate them from life’s setbacks.
Stepping back a moment, I recognize the impossibility of having a clear set of rules that will automatically lead to happiness. If anything, these surveys show huge individual variation and that genetics influences happiness greatly. Rather than leading to individual advice, these statistics are probably more useful for public policy, which is how I got interested in them for my thesis. But it can’t hurt to know how others’ situations have affected their happiness as we make decisions that impact our own well being.
James Coan is a Wilson School major from Kensington, Md. He can be reached at jcoan@princeton.edu.
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