FAQ > About Subjective Well-Being (Happiness and Life Satisfaction), by Dr. Diener > Q: Who are the happiest people?
A: A recent study by Diener and Seligman took a first look at the happiest 10 percent of college students. We used many different types of SWB measures to make sure that we were getting truly happy people. In our study the happiest people always had two things - good mental health and good social relationships. Every one of the happiest people had good social relationships in general (although not necessarily every single social relationship, of course), although some of the unhappy people also had good social relationships. For this reason, we concluded that high quality social relationships are necessary for well-being, but not sufficient for it. The happiest group also scored low on the MMPI psychopathology scales - except some scored high on the mania scale.
Last updated on September 14, 2007 by Dr. Walt