community

The Importance of Community The importance of community translates into overall personal happiness.  It’s what drives us to live in certain neighborhoods, join team sports and get involved in book clubs.  We’re all seeking to find a group of people with whom we can connect with. Now science gives us another reason as to why our communities are so important to us. In 1938 Harvard researchers began the Harvard Study of Adult Development, one of the world’s longest studies of adult life.  Their research goal was to find out what leads to a healthy, happy life.  For over 80 years they’ve followed the original 238 subjects.  Eventually adding their offspring to the study group, and now the third and fourth generations. Over the years they studied the participants’ physical health, as well as their personal successes and failures.  They filled out questionnaires, submitted medical records and held hundreds [...]