“The finding we didn’t expect and that at first we didn’t believe was the people who stayed the healthiest and lived the longest were the people who had the best connections with other people,” says Dr. Bob Waldinger on this week’s episode of The Quadcast. Dr. Waldinger is the 4th director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which, after 85 years, is likely the longest-running study of adult life in history. Starting in 1938, it followed two groups of men in Boston from opposite socio-economic backgrounds and their families to chart determinants of wellbeing and human thriving. Today, Dr. Waldinger tells MCI Executive Director Marjorie Malpiede, the study’s findings could have critical implications for teens and college students, who are struggling with their mental health in record numbers. For people aged 16-24, the loneliest group of people in the U.S., Dr. Waldinger suggests investing in meaningful and reciprocal relationships early on can help them become happier over the course of their lives.
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