A 75-Year Harvard Study Finds What It Takes To Live A Happy Life

In June 2009, The Atlantic published a cover story on the Grant Study, one of the longest-running longitudinal studies of human development.

2009年6月，《大西洋月刊》在格兰特研究上发布了一则封面故事，这是人类发展史上纵向研究时间最长的科研之一。

The project, which began in 1938, has followed 268 Harvard undergraduate men for 75 years, measuring an astonishing range of psychological, anthropological, and physical traits—from personality type to IQ to drinking habits to family relationships to “hanging length of his scrotum”—in an effort to determine what factors contribute most strongly to human flourishing.

该项目始于1938年，为时75年，研究对象是哈佛大学的268名本科生，研究范围广到惊人，从心理学到人类学，再到身体特征-由此又从智商延伸至饮酒习惯、家庭关系和“阴囊悬挂长度”-力求找出决定人类繁荣的核心因素。

Recently, George Vaillant, who directed the study for more than three decades, published Triumphs of Experience, a summation of the insights the study has yielded. Among them: “Alcoholism is a disorder of great destructive power.” Alcoholism was the main cause of divorce between the Grant Study men and their wives; it was strongly correlated with neurosis and depression (which tended to follow alcohol abuse, rather than precede it); and—together with associated cigarette smoking.Above a certain level, intelligence doesn’t matter.

近来，主持该科研超30年的乔治.范伦特发表了《成功经验之谈》，此文为该研究项目的中心观点。该文说道：“酗酒是阻碍进步的蛮横力量。”在被格兰特调研的男性及其妻子间，酗酒是导致离婚的主要原因；它与神经官能症和抑郁症密切相关（这是酗酒后的症状，而非酗酒之前的）；并且-同样的还有吸烟。所以在一定水平上，智商的影响甚微。

There was no significant difference in maximum income earned by men with IQs in the 110–115 range and men with IQs higher than 150. Aging liberals have more sex. Political ideology had no bearing on life satisfaction—but the most-conservative men ceased sexual relations at an average age of 68, while the most-liberal men had active sex lives into their 80s. “I have consulted urologists about this,” Vaillant writes. “They have no idea why it might be so.”

智商届于110-115的男性和智商高于150的男性间的最高收入没有明显差异。年老的自由主义者拥有更多的性生活。而政治意识形态不会影响生活满足度-但最保守的一类男性平均会在68岁停止性关系，而最开放的男性在80岁时依然享受。“关于这点我咨询过泌尿科医师，”范伦特写道。“他们也不知其原因。”

But the factor Vaillant returns to most insistently is the powerful correlation between the warmth of your relationships and your health and happiness in old age. After The Atlantic’s 2009 article was published, critics questioned the strength of this correlation. Vaillant revisited the data he had been studying since the 1960s for his book, an experience that further convinced him that what matters most in life are relationships.

但有一个原因是范伦特极为迫切揭晓的，那就是老年时期的人际关系、健康指数及幸福指数的密切关联。继《大西洋月刊》于2009年发布该文后，评论家开始质疑这种关联的可靠度。范伦特也重新回顾了他在1960年代发表在书刊中的数据，这些数据让他更加坚信人际关系是影响生活的第一要素。

For instance, the men who scored highest on measurements of “warm relationships” earned an average of $141,000 a year more at their peak salaries (usually between ages 55 and 60) than the men who scored lowest; the former were also three times more likely to have achieved professional success .

比如，拥有最高指数“和谐关系”的男性（通常在55岁到60岁之间）的年均最高收入比“和谐关系”指数最低的男性要高出141,000美元；前者在专业领域取得成就的概率是后者的3倍。

And, in a conclusion that surely would have pleased Freud, the findings suggest that the warmth of your relationship with Mommy matters long into adulthood. Specifically:

并且，还有一个让弗洛伊德欣慰的结论就是，研究表明孩子与母亲的亲密会长时间影响成年时期的行为。特别是：

Men who had “warm” childhood relationships with their mothers earned an average of $87,000 more a year than men whose mothers were uncaring.

儿时与母亲关系亲密的男性年收入高出不受母亲关爱的男性87,000美元。

Men who had poor childhood relationships with their mothers were much more likely to develop dementia when old.

儿时与母亲关系不融洽的男性年老时更易患痴呆症。

Late in their professional lives, the men’s boyhood relationships with their mothers—but not with their fathers—were associated with effectiveness at work.

在稍后的专业领域里，男性儿时与母亲的感情-不包括父亲的-会决定其在工作时的效率。

On the other hand, warm childhood relations with fathers correlated with lower rates of adult anxiety, greater enjoyment of vacations, and increased “life satisfaction” at age 75—whereas the warmth of childhood relationships with mothers had no significant bearing on life satisfaction at 75.

另一方面，儿时与父亲关系融洽的男性成年后患焦虑症的风险较低，并且他们更易去享受假期，在75岁时也能提高“生活满足度”-然而幼时与母亲的亲密度对75岁的年龄没有太大影响。

In Vaillant ’s own words: “The seventy-five years and twenty million dollars expended on the Grant Study points … to a straightforward five-word conclusion: ‘Happiness is love. Full stop.’ ”

用范伦特的话来讲：“历时75年，花费2千万美元的格兰特调研结果可直接用6个字概括：‘幸福是爱。句号。’”