The pursuit of happiness is a God-given natural right enshrined in our nation's founding document.
It completes the famous triad behind life and liberty, in appropriate chronology.
But neither the Declaration of Independence nor the U.S. Constitution defines happiness, much less the best way to pursue it.
There are no classes in high school about the pursuit of happiness, no vocational training courses or degree programs in higher education that apply academic rigor to the subject.
We citizens are on our own when it comes to catching the happiness we are entitled to pursue.
Because individual lifespans normally last decades, happiness ebbs and flows according to the various seasons and cycles of life. Many people who start out in unhappy childhoods wind up happy as they age, and vice versa.
Each person's life is shaped by so many variables, options, circumstances and choices, creating an almost infinite mosaic of possible results.
Most behavior studies are snapshots at a certain period of time. A survey showing that 25 percent of Arkansans smoke, for example, might break down the data by age group. And we might compare the percentage with another study from 10 years earlier.
But we wouldn't know what percentage of smokers ages 25-30 in the survey a decade ago are the same individuals as those ages 35-40 now.
The way statistical samples are generated, it's unlikely any would be the same.
The research method in which data are gathered and individual observations made for the same subjects repeatedly over a long period of time is called a longitudinal cohort study.
The longest such study ever undertaken is the Harvard Grant Study. Formally part of the Study of Adult Development at Harvard Medical School and originally funded by department store magnate H.T. Grant, it followed 268 Harvard college students from the classes of 1938-'40.
Researchers interviewing, surveying, testing and charting the human development of the same individuals over 75 years produced an amazing amalgamation of informational insights.
The Grant Study's goal was to get lifelong views of the subjects to help identify factors associated with healthy aging. A major corollary, however, was a remarkable and revelatory view of the common denominators that translated into happiness for the men.
The study does have limitations stemming from its origins--all subjects were male, white and presented with at least a privileged opportunity (most also came from privileged backgrounds).
Still, many of its findings offer surprising results that transcend gender, race and socioeconomics.
Tracking lives over so many decades covers the full gamut of experiences: college, marriage, parenthood, war, career, religion, politics, divorce, grandparenthood, retirement and so forth. It also unearths fruits of behavior and attitudes and habits as measured by income, health and marital stability.
If we were to establish a Happiness Literacy index, the lessons of living gleaned from the Grant Study should be on the required reading list. Here are some key points:
• Alcohol spells trouble
By far, the most disruptive force in the surveyed lives was abuse of alcohol.
Not only did it figure most prominently in destroying relationships and careers (it was the main cause of divorce among the Grant men), but, combined with smoking, it also was the largest factor in early morbidity and death.
Drinking was also generally found not to follow depression and neurosis, but to precede it.
• Healthy habits matter
As the men reached retirement age, the study identified seven factors as strong predictors of healthy aging: employing mature adaptations, education, stable marriage, not smoking, not abusing alcohol, some exercise and healthy weight.
The data are dramatic: of the 106 Harvard men possessing five or six factors at age 50, half ended up as "happy-well" at age 80. Conversely, of those with three or fewer health factors in their favor at 50, none were "happy-well" at 80--and they were three times more likely to be dead.
• Warm childhoods last
Happiness in later life is closely tied to warm relationships early. Men raised by a caring mother in particular earned more money, were more effective at work, and were far less likely to develop dementia.
An astonishing 93 percent of the men who were thriving at age 65 had reported a very close sibling relationship when younger.
Scaling childhood warmth, the study termed the top quintile as "Cherished" and the bottom fifth as "Loveless" to draw distinctions in results.
Quality of life as they aged diverged between the two in startling statistical fashion. At 70, half of the Loveless had been diagnosed with mental illness, but only one in seven Cherished men had.
By that age, the Cherished were five times more likely to be rich in friendships than the Loveless.
Psychiatry professor and author George Vaillant, who directed the study from 1972 to 2004, named two pillars of happiness based on his three decades of Grant Study research.
"One is love," he wrote. "The other is finding a way of coping with life that does not push love away."
Obviously, Harvard men then and now represent a moneyed subset. But the lessons from their study about happiness--its pursuit or elusion--are free to all.
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Dana Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.
Editorial on 05/15/2015