Is Social Interest Associated with Happiness?

By Brad Bell

Social interest is an important personality characteristic that reflects an interest in others and being concerned about others.  People who are high in social interest are likely to value being sympathetic, considerate, and helpful.  Social relationships are important to many people. They may be a primary source of happiness and meaning in life.  Social interest may be related to happiness because our lives seem more meaningful.  Feeling connected to others and concerned about others may be a primary source of finding meaning in life.

Crandall (1980) found that among college students there was a statistically significant positive correlation between social interest and happiness for two measures of happiness. (1)   Thus, greater social interest was associated with greater happiness.  However, because these findings are correlational, we cannot make causal conclusions from the findings.  There may be other variables that could explain the relation between social interest and happiness.  (2)

Notes

1.  There was a significant positive correlation between social interest and happiness for both measures of happiness in the total sample.  However, only one of the two happiness measures was significantly correlated with social interest among men. Moreover, only one of the two happiness measures was significantly correlated with social interest among women.  The measure of happiness that was significantly correlated with social interest among men was different from the measure of happiness that was significantly correlated with social interest for women.

2.  See Crandall’s article for information on other findings.

References

Crandall, J. E. (1980).  Adler’s concept of social interest:  Theory, measurement, and implications for adjustment.  Journal of Personality and Social Psychology39, 481-495.