title: Comparing the happiness effects of real and on-line friends.
abstract: A recent large Canadian survey permits us to compare face-to-face ('real-life') and on-line social networks as sources of subjective well-being. The sample of 5,000 is drawn randomly from an on-line pool of respondents, a group well placed to have and value on-line friendships. We find three key results. First, the number of real-life friends is positively correlated with subjective well-being (SWB) even after controlling for income, demographic variables and personality differences. Doubling the number of friends in real life has an equivalent effect on well-being as a 50% increase in income. Second, the size of online networks is largely uncorrelated with subjective well-being. Third, we find that real-life friends are much more important for people who are single, divorced, separated or widowed than they are for people who are married or living with a partner. Findings from large international surveys (the European Social Surveys 2002-2008) are used to confirm the importance of real-life social networks to SWB; they also indicate a significantly smaller value of social networks to married or partnered couples.
authors.affiliation: Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and Vancouver School of Economics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: John F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Helliwell
authors.forename: Haifang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
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