Earlier this year, we convened a meeting of some of the most influential figures in modern happiness research to discuss what they had learned in their 600 combined years of research and professional experience.

The group included pioneers like Richard Layard, Sonja Lyubomirsky and Martin Seligman, who turned happiness into a serious science. As a result of their work, 90 per cent of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries are now measuring life satisfaction.

Many of these pioneers have remained active into their 80s and 90s, still writing, teaching and mentoring. If any group could identify the ingredients of a good life, this was it.

We recently published the outcome of this discussion in the Journal of Happiness Studies. The group identified many central themes to happiness: having basic needs met, relationships, meaningful work and living in ways that align with one’s values and circumstances. Looking ahead, they were concerned about inequalities and declining youth well-being.

The single most recurring theme in the discussion, however, was the importance and joy that comes from social relationships.

Relationships are the linchpin

As an interdisciplinary team of well-being researchers, we expected relationships to be part of the answer. They affect every........

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