A recent study evaluates the different factors influencing happiness among single Americans entering adulthood, emphasizing a significant connection between happiness and the quality of friendships. The findings were shared by Lisa Walsh from the University of California, Los Angeles, along with her colleagues in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on October 2, 2024.
Previous studies indicate that individuals in their early 20s often report lower levels of happiness compared to other life stages. At the same time, an increasing number of young adults are not engaged in long-term romantic relationships, prompting researchers to examine single individuals as a separate demographic, rather than comparing them to those in relationships.
Nevertheless, limited research has concentrated on the varying types of single individuals, particularly younger adults. To gain insight into their experiences, Walsh and her team analyzed online survey data from 1,073 single Americans aged 18 to 24.
The survey included questions that evaluated participants’ overall happiness alongside five factors influencing happiness: contentment with family, contentment with friends, self-esteem, neuroticism, and extraversion. The researchers employed latent profile analysis to categorize participants, recognizing that individuals can belong to diverse subgroups rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach typically used in traditional research.
The research team discovered that the diversity of young, single adults in their study could be best illustrated by dividing them into five distinct profiles, each characterized by unique combinations of the happiness predictors, corresponding to different levels of happiness.
For example, individuals in profile 1 exhibited the highest levels of happiness, showing positive ratings for all five factors, notably high satisfaction with friendships and low neuroticism. In contrast, those in profile 5, who reported the lowest happiness, had poor ratings across all five predictors. It appeared that better scores in some predictors could compensate for lower scores in others, with friendship satisfaction having a notably strong impact on overall happiness.
Based on their results, the researchers propose that young, single adults may gain from intentionally fostering meaningful, long-lasting friendships. Nonetheless, they emphasize the need for further research to better understand the cause-and-effect relationship between happiness and the factors they examined.
The authors remark: “A key takeaway from our research is the significant role that friendships play in shaping happiness for young single adults. Our findings indicate that singles who feel satisfied with their friendships are generally happier with their lives, while those who are unhappy with their friendships tend to report lower happiness. Ultimately, the quality of your friendships is essential for your well-being, particularly if you are single.”
