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The Institute of Family Studies released the following information related to happiness:
The ‘Happiness Crash’: As Young Adult Happiness Drops, Two Groups Are Thriving
Brigham Young University psychologist Julianne Holt-Lunstad found that social isolation raised the risk of early death by 29%, loneliness by 26% and living alone by 32%. …
Less Socializing, More Screens
Even though the science could not be clearer about social isolation’s devastating toll, we have been running a new experiment, and its unwitting subjects are the young adults who grew up amidst the digital revolution. Smartphones and social media—not to mention gaming, pornography and AI chatbots—have crowded out face-to-face conversation, socializing, and community life among teens and young adults. Teen dating has been halved, and two-thirds of eligible young adults are not dating anyone seriously. Socializing among young men and women is down more than 50%, from 12 hours to 5 hours per week. Instead, they’re spending an average of three hours per day on social media, “interacting” with other avatars in a virtual world.
They (and we) might be tempted to call all this “socializing”—as if posting selfies, scrolling, commenting on strangers’ posts, and gaming on an Xbox could satisfy the deep human need for real relationships with real people that researchers like Harlow, Cacioppo and Holt-Lunstad have documented.
But the poisonous fruits of the digital revolution suggest otherwise. Anxiety, depression and anti-social behavior are way up, especially among young people. An increasing number of them hold catastrophic views of the world and report a lack of agency over their own lives. …
We’re witnessing what one scholar has called a “happiness crash” that is hitting young adults hardest—since 2000, reports of unhappiness have more than doubled from 11% to 23% for men and women aged 20 to 35. …
But the news is not all bad: Some young men and women are much more likely to escape the happiness crash engendered by the digital revolution.
A new Institute for Family Studies report, The Devout Difference: Religion, Marital Quality, and Sex Among Americans, points to two forms of community that protect people from the isolating currents of modern life: strong marriages and regular religious practice. Both institutions, the report notes, have long been “signal sources of social solidarity,” safeguarding their members’ physical and emotional well-being in part by connecting men and women to real relationships with real people. Faith and family “may be especially valuable now in a society that has grown more technologically distracted, atomistic, and economically unequal—conditions that erode the informal sources of meaning and belonging that allow men and women to thrive.”
The data bear this out: Married and religious young adults have largely escaped the happiness crash that has engulfed their peers. According to the General Social Survey, 50% of married, religious Americans aged 20 to 35 describe themselves as “very happy,” compared with just 16% of their unmarried, secular peers—a threefold difference. Marriage alone matters a great deal (37% of married, secular young adults are very happy), but the combination of faith and family appears most powerful. 10/02/26 https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-happiness-crash-as-young-adult-happiness-drops-two-groups-are-thriving
Aspects of feminism (see ‘Feminism’ does not result in happiness, ‘Liberal women’ are unhappy, and American women continue to be less happy as we get close to the UN’s International Day of Happiness for 2026: There are keys to happiness!) and liberal parenting (cf. ‘Teens more likely to be mentally healthy if they have conservative parents, study says’). STAYING married also helps with happiness (see Happiness study points to biblical principles–how to be happier).
The world’s longest-term study related to happiness suggests that caring for others and staying married is better than the emptiness associated with self-focus careerism:
‘The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness’
“We may be capable of extraordinary feats of intellect and creativity … but when it comes to making decisions about our lives, we humans are often bad at knowing what is good for us.” This observation from The Good Life: Lessons From the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness may seem obvious to most readers—too many short-term indulgences often lead to long-term misery—but there are less obvious reasons that Americans today are confused about how to achieve a certain level of personal satisfaction and well-being. There are cultural and political messages pushing them into what are often less fulfilling and more destructive directions. …
There is much conventional wisdom in The Good Life. The authors, Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz, describe how often people think that more money will make them happier, but in fact there is little evidence that this is true, at least past a certain point. “We are resilient, industrious, creative creatures who can survive incredible hardship, laugh our way through tough times, and come out stronger on the other end.” But “we also get used to better circumstances. Our emotional well-being cannot improve to infinity. We settle in. We tend to take things for granted.” …
So while it is easy for people to acknowledge that money can’t buy happiness, it is harder for people to believe that great careers can’t guarantee personal fulfillment. …
It is a paradox of modern liberal attitudes that on the one hand careers are supposed to provide fulfillment—all the fulfillment that maybe families and friends used to provide—but at the same time, menial jobs or jobs that are done by less educated people are considered a burden and to be avoided at all costs. Public policy seems shaped by this idea—debt forgiveness for college graduates so they can go into low-paying white-collar jobs while eliminating work requirements for the lower classes. The idea that having a set of responsibilities for supporting other people—whether it is coal-mining or caring for one’s children—and giving life meaning and purpose, does not seem to occur to these thinkers. Instead, careers are simply about freedom, autonomy, and self-fulfillment. …
Making money and landing your dream job are not predictors of happiness, the authors write, but the relationships you have are. …
There seems to be little curiosity about the difference in outcomes for people who grew up in homes with single parents compared with those who had fathers in the home. They don’t seem to make much distinction between marriage and cohabitation either in terms of the long-term happiness and security of the spouses. “The essential point is that close, nurturing units of people that have a formative effect on our lives can come from a variety of places, include a variety of people, and be called any number of things. What matters is not just who we consider to be family, but what our closest relationships mean to us over the course of our lives.”
This is no doubt true on some level, but the research on the impact of marriage, not just “nurturing units of people,” is quite clear, and it would be surprising if the study did not show some correlation between two-parent households and children’s happiness and success or the difference in happiness between people in cohabiting relationships versus marriages. February 5, 2023 https://freebeacon.com/culture/study-shows-youre-nobody-until-somebody-loves-you/
Yes, many of societies’ “experts” have it all wrong about life and happiness. And while not everything that the authors of The Good Life have concluded is accurate, at least they have called out some of the myths of modern Western societies.
Consider, further, that Jesus said:
10 I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b).
The Apostle John wrote:
2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2)
Do you know who the Bible says is happy?
God’s people:
5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help,
Whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6 Who made heaven and earth,
The sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps truth forever,
7 Who executes justice for the oppressed,
Who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord gives freedom to the prisoners. (Psalm 146:5-7)15 Happy are the people who are in such a state;
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord! (Psalm 144:15)
Do you have the God of Jacob (whose name God changed to Israel in Genesis 32:28) for your help? Is the God of the Bible your Lord?
If you really do, you should be happy.
13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her. (Proverbs 3:13-18)
Yes, wisdom can bring happiness to all: males and females.
If people everywhere obeyed God’s laws, there would be no war, no unhappy families, no divorce, crime, violence or stealing. People would be honest and concerned for one another’s welfare and property.
Consider also that the Apostle Paul wrote, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12).
We are to delight in God’s ways:
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.5 Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass. (Psalm 37:3-5)11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Who is the man who desires life,
And loves many days, that he may see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
And your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it. (Psalm 34:11-14)
DELIGHT IN THE LORD and He will give you the proper desires of your heart.
The Continuing Church of God has the following sermon related to happiness on its ContinuingCOG channel:
1:20:41
14 Biblical Keys to Happiness
Nearly everyone wants to be happy. An advertising campaign decades ago attempted to directly tell us “that’s what happiness is.” Is happiness material goods or physical experiences? Are Christians supposed to be happy? What does the Bible teach about being happy? Does the Bible approach happiness from a different way than the world does? How should a Christian view tests and trials? Are you supposed to rejoice at God’s Holy Days? Dr. Thiel answers these questions and more, plus lists fourteen biblical keys to happiness.
Here is a link to the video sermon: 14 Biblical Keys to Happiness.
God’s ways are best and lead to true happiness.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
Biblical Keys to Happiness This is an article for those interested in biblical teachings about being happy. Two related sermons are available: Happiness: 15 Biblical Keys and : 14 Biblical Keys to Happiness.
The Ten Commandments: The Decalogue, Christianity, and the Beast This is a free pdf book explaining the what the Ten Commandments are, where they came from, how early professors of Christ viewed them, and how various ones, including the Beast of Revelation, will oppose them. A related sermon is titled: The Ten Commandments and the Beast of Revelation.
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why did God make you? This free online book helps answers some of the biggest questions that human have, including the biblical meaning of life. Here is a link to three related sermons: Mysteries of God’s Plan, Mysteries of Truth, Sin, Rest, Suffering, and God’s Plan, and The Mystery of YOU.
Why Were You Born? Why did God make you? Herbert W. Armstrong wrote this as a booklet on this important subject. You may also wish to read the article What is Your Destiny? or watch the video, also titled What is Your Destiny?
Building Character: Going on to Perfection Once you have accepted Jesus, do you need to strive for perfection and build character? A related video sermon is available: Going on to perfection and building character.
What is the Meaning of Life? Who does God say is happy? What is your ultimate destiny? Do you really know? Does God actually have a plan for YOU personally? If you would like to watch videos covering subjects of this article, you can click on the following links: Why YOU? Why Do YOU Suffer? and What is the meaning of your life?
Should You Observe God’s Holy Days or Demonic Holidays? This is a free pdf booklet explaining what the Bible and history shows about God’s Holy Days and popular holidays. A related sermon is Which Spring Days should Christians observe?
The Gospel of the Kingdom of God This free online pdf booklet has answers many questions people have about the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and explains why it is the solution to the issues the world is facing. It is available in hundreds of languages at ccog.org. Here are links to four kingdom-related sermons: The Fantastic Gospel of the Kingdom of God!, The World’s False Gospel, The Gospel of the Kingdom: From the New and Old Testaments, and The Kingdom of God is the Solution.
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