Mental Health Status, Social Participation, and Happiness.

The effects of mental health status and social participation are examined to determine the extent to which each of these two factors contributes to the level of happiness which people experience. The findings indicate that happiness is contingent both on people's state of mental health and the extent to which they participate in social interaction with others. Each of these two factors exerts an independent influence on happiness, and the two relations are maintained under controls for age, social class position, and sex. The implications of these findings for psychiatric help-seeking are then briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]