People in cultures with more flexible social relationships tend to be happier

What is it about?

Many studies have emphasized how important social relationships are to happiness. Yet people tend to be happier in cultures where social relationships are the least stable. Cultures like the United States tend to have higher "relational mobility," which means people have more opportunities to meet new people, and they feel the freedom to leave relationships they don't like. Cultures like Japan have lower relational mobility, with stable relationships that are more binding. We compared relational mobility and happiness in different cultures around the world. Cultures with higher relational mobility tended to be happier. We also compared counties in China. Counties where people reported higher relational mobility tended to be happier. This was true after taking into account factors like wealth, education, and employment.

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Photo by Alessandro Sicari on Unsplash

Photo by Alessandro Sicari on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Relational mobility can help explain why cultures differ in happiness. Relationships have different structures in different cultures. Flexible relationships seem to be good for people's happiness. However, fixed relationships may serve other purposes besides happiness, such as getting through hard times.