Sisters Make Us Happy
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
happy friends make us happy
Photo Credit: www.entrepreneurthearts.files.wordpress.com
I love it when a study comes out that kinda makes you go “hmmm…” This is exactly the case with a recent study that shows that if you have sisters, you’re likely to be a happier person. How ’bout that? I think about me, as the youngest in my family, with 6 sisters, and I have to wonder, is this why I’m a happy person?
When I look back at growing up with 6 sisters, I cannot say it felt like a party. I often felt like I had 6 mothers. But according to a new study from England, growing up with sisters makes you happier and more optimistic. Professor Tony Cassidy from the University of Ulster explains:
Sisters appear to encourage more open communication and cohesion in families. However, brothers seem to have the alternative effect. Emotional expression is fundamental to good psychological health and having sisters promotes this in families.
Cassidy says that this may be because boys are taught not to discuss things the way girls are. Those who scored the lowest in terms of happiness and optimism were boys who had only brothers. Only children scored somewhere in the middle.
My sisters may have made me a happy person, but I bet there’s a study to be found to suggest that close, female friendships make you a happy person, too. I look at my life today and fully realize that I have a wonderful group of women in my life that inspire me, push me on and make me laugh on a daily basis. And isn’t that what happiness is all about?
It’s why I’m running in the morning around a little lake with hills, with a friend who makes me laugh.
Maybe she’s like a sister. Maybe I’ve been lucky enough to forge some great friendships that have become to me like a bunch of sisters who just keep making me happy.
In any case, I’m considering myself lucky. And happy. How do you find ways for emotional expression so you can enjoy “good psychological health.” Do you have sisters? Friends who are like sisters? Do you think this makes the difference for you?
May your next run be a good one.
Rebecca