From eating and walking to reading and commuting, a recent study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science has found that Americans consistently experience greater happiness when engaging in activities with company rather than alone.
The link between social interaction and well-being is well established in psychological research. Humans are inherently social beings, and numerous studies have shown that spending time with others tends to elevate mood and life satisfaction. However, previous research has rarely examined whether specific activities – especially those typically done alone – are more enjoyable when shared.
To address this gap, researchers Dunigan Folk and Elizabeth Dunn analyzed data from four waves of the American Time Use Survey (2010, 2012, 2013, and 2021), which included responses from 41,094 participants. Each participant described their previous day in detail and rated their happiness during three randomly selected activity episodes. They also indicated whether they were interacting with someone during each episode, either in person or via their phone.
The researchers excluded inherently social activities such as caregiving and phone calls, focusing instead on over 80 common activities ranging from household chores to leisure pursuits. Using statistical modeling, they assessed whether social interaction was associated with increased happiness across these activities.
Of the 297 activity-specific analyses conducted, 296 showed a positive association between social interaction and happiness. The sole exception was kitchen clean-up in 2021, which showed a slight decrease in enjoyment when done with others.
Eating and drinking yielded the largest happiness gains, followed by travel and active leisure activities such as walking and running, when paired with socializing. Even traditionally solitary activities like reading, arts and crafts, and commuting were rated as more enjoyable when someone else was present.
To ensure that the results were not simply due to happier individuals choosing to socialize, the researchers conducted additional analyses controlling for participants’ prior mood. They found that social interaction still predicted increased happiness, suggesting that the effect was not merely a reflection of pre-existing emotional states.
Folk and Dunn raised: “if everything is better together, then why do people still choose to do things alone? One obvious explanation is that companionship is not always available. [Also] … people are motivated by more than just happiness, and solitude is … often necessary for many personal pursuits… preparing for that big exam may require foregoing that always fun — but always unproductive — group study session.”
Despite its strengths, the study has several limitations. For instance, the measure of social interaction was binary and did not capture the nature or quality of the interaction. The survey also lacked information on individual personality traits, such as introversion, which could influence how social interaction affects happiness.
The study, “Everything Is Better Together: Analyzing the Relationship Between Socializing and Happiness in the American Time Use Survey,” was authored by Dunigan Folk and Elizabeth Dunn.
