The Transition to Grandparenthood: A Chance to Promote Well-Being and Personal Growth in Later Life

Abstract

Social relationships have long been considered one of the strongest and most important predictors of happiness. This assumption is in accord with the arguments of numerous scholars regarding the importance of group living and interpersonal relationships in shaping human evolution. Empirical evidence that relationships are tied to happiness is plentiful. For example, support from family, friends, and especially from a significant others is tied to reports of greater subjective well-being. Recently, however, critics have suggested that the status given to relationships in the field of happiness overstates their centrality and importance. Although these critiques are themselves somewhat controversial, they underscore important gaps in the empirical record and force scholars to reconsider their assumptions about the strength of the association between social relationships and happiness. We begin with issues of definitions and measurement. We then review empirical findings on the relative effects of relationship quantity and quality on happiness, or more specifically, subjective well-being. We especially profile the significant other relationship, which accounts for a substantial portion of the variance that relationships play in subjective well-being (SWB). Finally, we consider some less explored issues, such as the roles of gender, age, and culture in moderating the effects of relationships on happiness that may help to explicate some of the puzzlingly modest associations in the literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)