I heard for an average folk, happiness can be measured by how many people does a person has in his life. What that meant was misery or unhappy people tends to have less families and friends support.
enuff
as far as happiness, seems some people are hardwired to be unhappy, either by nurture or nature. Sometimes this unhappiness causes them to have interesting lives...depends how you respond to baseline unhappiness, or discontent
on a separate thought, I think for most, they inherit or acquire a vision of themselves as adults, and this vision may be humble, or it may be grand, and where you end up relative to that vision will dictate your "happiness"
I think many of us an look back to school experiences where we perhaps had little money, and lots of friends, and were happy. There is a lesson there. Relative wealth to our peer group is an important factor. Hanging around with people richer than yourself can make you feel inadequate or depressed.
Social connectedness for myself is part of what I call anthropological integrity. It is a broadening of the caveman or paleological diet concept, but applied to your overall lifestyle.
Think about how ancient man lived, or primitive african tribes currently live. This is the lifestyle that your DNA recognizes as wholesome.
To the extent that you deviate from this lifestyle will determine what I call anthropological stress. You reduce this stress by living gregariously, if possible, living with people rather than alone, or in a socially intensive neighourhood, surround yourself with animals and gardens, take calculated risks, eat a primitive diet, live in a tropical climate, walk everywhere, work 4 hours a day, gamble, enjoy the social company of your same sex, ....and so on.
