Comparing the Happiness Effects of Real and On-Line Friends
Open accessAbstract
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.
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- Authors
- Helliwell, J. F., & Huang, H.
- Affiliations
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CA)
- University of Alberta (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Helliwell, John F.
- ORCID
- Helliwell, John F.
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2013-09-03
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- e72754
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3760892
- OpenAlex
- W2086335346
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 6.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Canadian Institute for Advanced Research
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Keywords
- subjective well-being, happiness, online friendship, social networks, social networking sites, marital status, income and well-being
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Happiness, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Middle Aged, Internet
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