Wendy Zuckerman

Why is this?

I mean, it's almost like a meme.

And has it worked for you?

Do you think you're a happier person because of it?

are really stamping on this point and that at any age, you can turn things around and start building these relationships.

And then looking at some of the other findings of your study, because it was this beautiful longitudinal research project, what did you find about how childhood adversity can then affect us as we grow up?

Because you did have these two groups, the Harvard quote-unquote well-adjusted men versus those who came from quite poor and difficult backgrounds.

So for those who are listening and for those in the study who did not have any caring individuals growing up,

What patterns did you see and were they able to overcome them?

Now, some of the things that I guess people associate with the good life are having kids.

And one of the participants, Rosa, who was married to Hank, they had five children of their own, which Rosa said was plenty but not enough.

Yes.

Which makes me clench.

Five kids.

But does having children make you happy?

And then another thing that comes up when we think about happiness is money.

Does making money make us happy?

Yeah.

Yeah, there is this really interesting idea out there based on research from years ago that once you earn a certain amount, in the study it was $60,000 to $90,000 a year, but I guess with inflation, probably talking around $100,000 a year, that your happiness level levels out.

More and more money doesn't equal more and more happiness.