3 . The quality of the family relationship is more important than family configuration (结构). A healthy family relationship is the base of a happy family.     1    . Although family relationships are different, there are certain characteristics that healthy family relationships share.

    2    . Family members listen to and genuinely care about what the others are saying. In these families, communication is on a deep enough level that all members are able to share their feelings, goals, achievements and experiences. When some feedback and constructive criticism are given, love and affection are made clear by the use of positive words.

A family with a healthy relationship requires every single family member’s commitment. Family members hold family as a top priority (优先考虑的事) and consider the impact on relatives before making important decisions. Family members are dependable and always there for each other in times of crisis.    3    .

A characteristic of healthy family relationship is that they spend time doing enjoyable activities together.     4    . Often, these activities become family traditions, such as sharing meals together, having family outings every weekend or playing sports together.

    5    . Family members accept that they each have their own personalities, qualities and interests. Everyone plays an important role in the family. When there is conflict between family members, it is solved in a positive and healthy manner. Family members also acknowledge each other’s achievements and show appreciation for other members.

5 . Life offers its fair share of challenges. At any given time, anyone can face difficult sea- sons in their life. It is true for you. When you're experiencing difficulty, it's always helpful to have a support system to get through it.     1    Knowing this, there are a few ways you can become supportive of a family member who is in the midst of a struggle.

Offer legal resources. If you have family members who are in trouble with the law, you can offer assistance by pointing in the direction of various legal resources, You can even decide to cover a part of their legal fees in court.     2    

Provide encouragement. When people are down on their luck, it's really easy for them to get discouraged and give up. Instead, it's a wise move to offer words of encouragement to the person. Always remind them that they're strong, capable and more powerful than they realize.    3    

Be a safe place. Sometimes, people struggle because they don't feel any love or support from anyone around them.     4    Be their light in the dark places. This can do so much for someone who is carrying a lot on the inside.

    5    You never want to make a person feel like they can't make it without you in their life. If you're allowing the family member to live with you for a certain period of time, be strict about what needs to happen during that time. Make sure that they develop a plan, time line and measured action steps that can help them get back on their feet.

6 . The Social Psychology of Potential Problems in Family Vacation Travel

We think vacation travel can cause problems, but subjects did report experiencing less anger, arguing and tension on the vacation than when they are not. It may mean that American vacation habits help to produce self-fulfilling prophecies: one expects to experience less difficulty and so one does, opposite to another kind of self-fulfilling prophecies a small number of travelers encounter when trips prove disappointing after they see too many movies featuring travel frustrations. But it may also mean that vacations are actually relatively stress free. Moreover, for some of the very reasons that we theorize that vacations should create problems for many families, vacations may allow families to experiment creatively with their pattern of living, which may free families from well laid out territories and role routines to explore new and rewarding ways of relating.

Although the supply of family therapists at national parks and resort hotels are now being advocated, we believe that vacations can be diagnostic of inherent relationship problems. It is difficult to sort out the tensions due to normal vacation frustrations from tensions representing underlying serious problems, but some families with serious problems by using work, school, and recreation patterns and by using privacy and territoriality patterns to keep themselves apart, according to Goffman in his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, when on vacation, may come face to face with the problems they have avoided. These people might be well advised to avoid joint vacations.

If we are right about vacation travel, we have some advice for people planning family vacation trips. One is to expect interpersonal difficulties and not to be horrified by them. Another is to be aware of problems which may arise from traveling with people outside of the immediate nuclear family. Routinized vacations (for example, always taking a fishing-at-a-resort vacation) have their advantages too, as do vacations that put people in relatively house-like-settings (for example, a homestay where “the family cook” can continue to cook). Good vacations, like good family relationships, may require a considerable investment in tolerance, negotiation, and planning, though not always achieved, even by good people with the best of intentions.

7 . The key to a happy life has nothing to do with getting ahead at work, making money, or traveling the world. Instead, living your best life and creating meaning is all about one thing: relationships.

A study of adult development has been running at Harvard since 1938, and is now on its second generation of participants—the children of the original study’s subjects. Over decades, the research team collected data about their lives, including their physical and mental health, marital (婚姻的) status and quality, career happiness, etc.

They found the most important aspect in how happy and healthy these men were over time was their relationships. In other words: Finding happiness in life is all about the people you love.

The research doesn’t only include romantic relationships and marriage. Quality, close relationships are important whether they are in the situation of romantic relationships or closeness between friends or family members. The kind of relationship you have is less important than how close you feel with them.

However, the study only included men, and important gender differences exist in how people experience relationships. Some research suggests that men may benefit more from marriage. But they tend to have a harder time keeping friendships; as men get older, they will more likely say they have nobody to discuss important subjects with. So it’s possible that having close relationships throughout their lives might affect men differently than women.

The findings line up with the effects of loneliness. People who are socially isolated have a greater likelihood of strokes (中风), heart attacks, and higher blood pressure, not to mention mental health issues.

Unfortunately for the youngest generations, recent surveys found that young Americans are lonelier than older generations. That will likely have a big impact on how healthy and happy people feel throughout their lives.