Happiness can depend on the mood of friends and family

HAPPINESS really is infectious and can “ripple” through social groups, a study out today found.

Research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that an individual’s happiness depends on the mood of close friends, relatives and neighbours.

Professor Nicholas Christakis from Harvard Medical School and Professor James Fowler from California University, found that a person’s proximity to happy people – specifically partners, siblings and neighbours – could make them happy too.

According to the study, the prospect of happiness can be significantly boosted by living with a happy partner or near to a happy friend.

The findings suggest that clusters of cheerfulness are caused by the spread of happiness, rather than people choosing to associate with happy people, the researchers claim.

They said: “Changes in individual happiness can ripple through social networks, giving rise to clusters of happy and unhappy individuals.

“Most important from our perspective is the recognition that people are embedded in social networks and that the health and wellbeing of one person affects the health and wellbeing of others.

“This fundamental fact of existence provides a fundamental conceptual justification for the speciality of public health.

“Human happiness is not merely the province of isolated individuals.”

The study was based on data collected from 5,124 adults aged 21-70 who were followed between 1971 and 2003.