The Harvard Study
The Harvard Study of Adult Development was started in 1938, and is believed to be the world’s longest continuing health study. Its original objectives were to try and understand what makes a happy and healthy life.
Initially the study recruited 268 Harvard undergraduates, all males (at that time the university did not admit females). Included in this number was a future President of the USA, JF Kennedy. The study was expanded in later years to add the children of the original recruits, women and a separate control group of inner city Boston residents.
The study has demonstrated that our relationships and the quality of those relationships have a powerful influence on our health.
The current directors of the programme, Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, have published a book called ‘The Good Life’ which I have read. It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down once I had read the first page. The book contains a number of powerful individual case studies (the individuals are anonymised) which illustrate the findings of the programme in a vivid manner.
The book also contains some powerful models that will allow you, (if you are so inclined), to think about where your closest relationships sit against a number of different parameters (for example, energising/depleting; frequent/infrequent). It also highlights some of the questions used in the research that dig into the dimensions that make for good relationships (eg learning and growth, fun and relaxation, safety and security), which the reader can then use to think about one’s own closest relationships. The models in particular have made me reflect deeply on the nature of my own relationships and how these relationships have evolved.
We can be misled by the prevalence of social media in today’s world into thinking that we have many and varied relationships, when in reality they can be very superficial. This point occurred to me when I opened up my phone contact list to reveal literally hundreds of names, many from the world of business where I have spent much of my life. Paging through the list I was struck just how many people, people I liked being with, with whom I have lost contact (and a very small number that I don’t miss too much!). So I am going to make a conscious effort to get back in touch with a number on the list.
You can find out more about the Harvard programme here:-
Here’s a link to the book:-
And finally there is a short TED Talk given by Robert Waldinger:-