not all of life's slings and arrows are created equal

Seems to me that these findings are interesting corroborations of some Christian values in terms of human 'utility' ie welfare and happiness.

most people adapt quickly to marriage, for example -- within just a couple of years, the peak in subjective well-being experienced around the time of getting married returns to its previous levels. People mostly adapt to the sorrows of losing a spouse too, but this takes longer -- about 7 years. People who get divorced and people who become unemployed, however, do not, on average, return to the level of happiness they were at previously. The same can be said about physical debilitation. Numerous recent studies have demonstrated that major illnesses and injury result in significant, lasting decreases in subjective-well being.

It seems to suggest to me that working for stable relationships and health are important.
And there are some interesting further details too. Naturally, we have to note the word 'average' in the above.

There's a lot of individual variation in the degree to which people adapt to what life throws at them.

But then there seems to be a dividend for a certain degree of predictability and security, if I understand this bit aright.

What's more, individuals destined to experience certain life events actually differ in their subjective well-being from those not so fated -- even well before the occurrence of those events. People who eventually marry and stay married, for example, tend to be happier even 5 years before their marriage than those who are destined to marry and get divorced.

So working for a stable society in relation to these kinds of things would seem to be helpful.

Technorati Tags: happiness, welfare, resiliance, marriage, bereavement