The One Thing That Predicts Adult Health and Happiness

If there is one goal that we all have in common, it is the desire to live our lives as happy and healthy adults. As the saying goes, “If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.” And that applies to both physical and mental health. We also know that the “pursuit of happiness” is extremely important.

As adults, there are many things that we can do to improve our health and happiness. We can eat healthy, exercise, and avoid health-damaging habits, such as smoking, excessive drinking, and drug use. We can also strive to stay psychologically healthy—nurturing good relationships and not getting caught up in toxic ones. We can avoid extremely stressful situations and learn good skills for coping with the everyday stress that we encounter. When we have mental health issues, we can seek out professional counseling and rely on our network of supportive others.

There is good evidence, however, that early life experiences can have positive or negative effects on us decades later. Recent research (Ramos et al., 2023) suggests that one factor occurring in our early formative years can impact our health and happiness in adulthood. What is that one thing that consistently predicts adult health and happiness? It is the quality of our family relationships as children and adolescents.

What Does It Mean to Be a Healthy, Happy Adult?

As part of the Fullerton Longitudinal Study—a four-decades-long study of children born in 1978 and their parents—the quality of their family relationships were measured every year when the children were ages 9-17. Mothers, fathers, and the children themselves rated their family environment using the Positive Family Relationships (PFR) scale. Items on the scale include, “When one person in the family is overwhelmed, other family members pitch in to help,” and “We discuss daily happenings of family members.”

At age 38, the now-adult FLS children completed self-assessments of their physical and mental health, a scale of comprehensive happiness that included happiness with career/work, family, intimate relationships, and friendships. Because socioeconomic status and IQ could affect happiness, these were controlled for.

What Were the Results?

Children who grew up in families that had positive family relationships—they got along well together and provided support for one another—were healthier, happier adults. While self-ratings of PFR as children and adolescents predicted 38-year health and happiness, even the mother’s ratings of Positive Family Relationships predicted their now-grown children’s mental and psychological health (although mothers’ PFR ratings did not predict children’s adult happiness).

Nearly 40 years in the making, this research verifies what many of us likely believe—that being raised in a psychologically healthy and positive family environment pays dividends, leading to greater health and happiness as adults.