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A peer network for people translating research, ideas, and institutional work into public understanding, visibility, and impact. Communicators for the Common Good is a small, informal network for professionals responsible for communications, marketing, media, growth, and public engagement at organizations working in research, philanthropy, human flourishing, and related areas. We meet virtually three times per year to share what is working, learn from one another, and identify opportunities for collaboration and cross-promotion. The group is free to join and is headed by Isaiah Baldissera, who leads communications at the Human Flourishing Program. This is an informal peer network, not a formal Harvard program, endorsement, or partnership. Sign up below and we'll be in touch shortly.

The Global Flourishing Study is a collaboration of researchers from universities and institutions across 25 countries and six continents, bringing together expertise from fields including public health, psychology, sociology, economics, education, medicine, philosophy, theology, and statistics. This international community of scholars is working together to better understand the factors that shape human flourishing around the world. Their research draws on data from more than 200,000 participants across 22 countries and has already generated a substantial and growing body of publications on topics such as happiness, health, meaning and purpose, character, relationships, financial well-being, community participation, religion, hope, trust, and social connection. Learn more about how the Global Flourishing Study has become a shared resource for researchers worldwide, and explore the growing body of findings in our Global Flourishing Study Research Publications collection. Researchers Jule Adriaans (Bielefeld University) Adibe Aaron Agbo (University of Nigeria, Nigeria) Eric Y. Aglozo (Arizona State University) Kelly-Ann Allen (Monash University, Australia) Ahmet Atil Asici (Istanbul Technical University, Turkey) Caroline Bartel (University of Texas at Austin) Jessica Benfer (Wisconsin Lutheran College) Piotr Bialowolski (Kozminski University, Poland) Nora H. Bittár (Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden) Rebecca Bonhag (Baylor University) Matt Bradshaw (Baylor University) Thomas Breedlove (Baylor University) Jet Uy Buenconsejo (Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong) Ayse Burcin Baskurt (University of East London, UK) Erik W. Carter (Baylor University) Brendan Case (Harvard University) Manas Chattopadhyay (Gallup) Job Chen (University of North Carolina, Charlotte) Ying Chen (Harvard University) Nathan Hussaini Chiroma (Africa College of Theology, Rwanda) Caleb A. Chung (Harvard University) Manuel Cebral-Loureda (Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico) Joo Hee Choi (Seoul National University, South Korea) William J. Chopik (Michigan State University) Eunice Contreras (University of Asia and the Pacific, The Philippines) Alicia Cortright (Wisconsin Lutheran College) Thierry Y. Coulibaly (Kyushu University, Japan) Victor Counted (Regent University) Richard G. Cowden (Harvard University) Steve Crabtree (Gartner) Malgorzata Cwil (Kozminski University, Poland) Andrzej Cwynar (University of Rzeszow, Poland) Micael Dahlen (Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden) Jan Delhey (RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau) Paul Dolan (London School of Economics) Pedro A. de la Rosa (University of Navarra, Spain) David Dinwoodie (Center for Creative Leadership) Johannes Eichstaedt (Stanford University) Cynthia English (Gallup) Chris Felton (Harvard University) Verónica Fernández Espinosa (Francisco de Vitoria University, Spain) Miguel Ángel Rumayor Fernández (Universidad Panamericana, Mexico) Alex Fogleman (Baylor University) Micah Kaats (Harvard University) Johannes H. De Kock (New Craigs Psychiatric Hospital, UK) Kuba Krys (Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland) Angelina Wilson Fadiji (South Africa University) Fernando Garzon (Regents University) Ying Han (Gallup) Claudia Hofheinz Giacomoni, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) Cristina Gibson (Pepperdine University) David M. Goodman (Boston University) Juliane Piasseschi de Bernardin Gonçalves (Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil) Kaymarlin Govender (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) Nikolitsa Grigoropoulou (University of Bremen) Craig Gundersen (Baylor University) Jeffrey A. Hanson (New College of Florida) William Hathaway (Regent University) John F. Helliwell (University of British Columbia, Canada) Hans J. Hendriks (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) Arturo Fitz Herbert (Universidad Austral, Argentina) Alberto Hernández-Baqueiro (Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico) Maria S. Hershey (Harvard University) Christina Hinton (Harvard University) Andrew D. Ho (Harvard University) Cassie Mogilner Holmes (UCLA) Jan Höltge (Dalhousie University, Canada) John Honohan (Gallup) Hanchao Hou (Tsinghua University, China) Lanxi Huang (University of Melbourne, Australia) Yoshiki Ishikawa (Wellbeing for Planet Earth Foundation) Katherine Jackson-Meyer (Harvard University) Ducel Jean-Berluche (University of Texas) Kathryn A. Johnson (Arizona State University) Sung Joon Jang (Baylor University) Aaron Jarden (Edith Cowan University, Australia) Mohsen Joshanloo (Keimyung University, South Korea) Petri Kajonius (Lund University, Sweden) Shanmukh Kamble (Karnatak University, India) Blake Victor Kent (Westmont College) Peggy Kern (University of Melbourne, Australia) Todd Kettler (Baylor University) Eric S. Kim (University of British Columbia, Canada) Young-Il Kim (George Fox University) Alexander Kirchner-Häusler (Kyoto University, Japan) John Kiweewa (Fairfield University) Oscar Kjell (Lund University, Sweden) Hayami Koga (Harvard University) Stephanie Koning (University of Nevada) Wahyuni Kristinawati (Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana) Laura D. Kubzansky (Harvard University) Ni Made Taganing Kurniati (Gunadarma University, Indonesia) Elizabeth Kwon (Baylor University) Junhye Kwon (Seoul National University, South Korea) Margie E. Lachman (Brandeis University) Noémie Le Pertel (Harvard University) Megan F. Lee (Bond University, Australia) Matthew T. Lee (Baylor University) Jeff Levin (Baylor University) Chung Gun Lee (Seoul National University, South Korea) Tim Lomas (Harvard University) Katelyn N. G. Long (Harvard University) Ángel Gustavo López-Montiel (Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico) Dan Loton, University of Melbourne, Australia) Giancarlo Lucchetti (Federal University of Juiz de Fora) Lucia Macchia (City St George's, University of London) Christos A. Makridis (Arizona State University) Shunsuke Managi (Kyushu University, Japan) Miguel Ángel Martínez-González (University of Navarra, Spain) Colin Mayer (Oxford University) Belén Mesurado (Universidad Austral, Argentina) Daniel Miezah (University of Cape Coast, Ghana) Keziah Yankey Miezah (University of Cape Coast, Ghana) Jordan W. Moon (Arizona State University) Alexander Moreira-Almeida (Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil) Ahmed Moustafa (Bond University, Australia) Jovel O. Nabia (Philippine Statistics Authority; Philippines) Shahed Nalla (University of Johannesburg, South Africa) Julia S. Nakamura (Harvard University) Mirjam Nathanson (Uppsala Universitet, Sweden) Jean Natividade (Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas, Brazil) August Håkan Nilsson (Oslo Metropolitan University) Nicholas Norman-Krause (Belmont University) Lindsay Oades (University of Melbourne, Australia) Chukwuemeka N. Okafor (University of Texas) Sakurako S. Okuzono (Harvard University) Uchechukwu Levi Osuagwu (Western Sydney University, Australia) Fernanda Ortega (Global Solutions Initiative, Germany) Isabel Ortiz-Marcos (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain) Suzanne T. Ouyang (Harvard University) R. Noah Padgett (Harvard University) Joonha Park (Kyoto University, Japan) Jason Paltzer (Wisconsin Lutheran College) Vikram Patel (Harvard University) James O. Pawelski (University of Pennslyvania) Anjana Gauri Pendyala (Amity University Mumbai, India) Alan Piper (Leeds University, UK) Emily Purcell (Regents University) Dona Eka Putri (Universitas Gunadarma, Indonesia) Tayyab Rashid (Values in Action Institute on Character) Zain Rashid (McMaster University) Eric Rimm (Harvard University) James L. Ritchie-Dunham (University of Texas) Zacc Ritter (Gallup) Maike Ritzer (Universität Greifswald, Germany) Miguel Ruiz-Canela (University of Navarra, Spain) Byron R. Johnson (Baylor University) Sebastian Sattler (Bielefeld University, Germany) Carsten Sauer (Bielefeld University) Willem J. Schoeman (North-West University, South Africa) H. Andrew Schwartz (Stony Brook University) Koichiro Shiba (Boston University) Kokoro Shirai (Osaka University) Deborah Skinstad (Stellenbosch University, South Africa) Dennis Snower (Oxford University) Celine Socrates (University of Asia and the Pacific, Philippines) Aleefia Somji (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) Vicente Soriano (Universidad Internacional de la Rioja) Rajesh Srinivasan (Gallup) John Ssozi (Baylor University) Leonie C. Steckermeier (RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau) Sho Takano (Skym consulting) Midori Takayama (Keio University) Enrique Tamés-Muñoz (Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico) Estefanía Toledo (University of Navarra, Spain) Dwight C. K. Tse (University of Strathclyde) Yukiko Uchida (Kyoto University, Japan) Tyler J. VanderWeele (Harvard University) Homero Vallada (Universidade de São Paulo) Claudia E. Vanney (Universidad Austral, Argentina) Maria Vasilj (University of Navarra, Spain) Elena Vazquez-Moreno (Universidad Internacional de la Rioja) Mahimna Vyas (University of Bolton, UK) James Walsh (The Agency Fund, Berkeley) Meg A. Warren (University of Washington) Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska (Harvard University) Renae Wilkinson (Harvard University) Charlotte V. O. Witvliet (Belmont University) Robert D. Woodberry (Baylor University) Jennifer Susan Wortham (Harvard University) Everett L. Worthington Jr. (Virginia Commonwealth University) Ni Made Swasti Wulanyani (Universitas Udayana) Jia-Qi Xu (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong) Ayse Yemiscigil (Fordham University) George Yancey (Baylor University) Anna Zalewska (SWPS University, Poland) Michela Zambelli (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Italy) Maggie Yue Zhao (University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong) Wang Zheng (East China Normal University) Anita Zulkaida (Gunadarma University)

Researchers from 25 countries participated in the Global Flourishing Study. The Global Flourishing Study is generating a substantial body of research on human flourishing across cultures, countries, and dimensions of life. The publications below show the breadth of questions made possible by this global dataset. Papers have appeared in leading and widely read journals including Nature, Nature Mental Health, Nature Human Behaviour, Scientific Reports, Communications Medicine, BMC Global and Public Health, Social Science & Medicine, European Journal of Epidemiology, Journal of Happiness Studies, and the International Journal of Wellbeing. Together, this work examines many of the central domains of flourishing, including happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, and financial and material stability. The publications also extend into related areas such as religion and spirituality, community participation, childhood experiences, suffering, hope, forgiveness, social trust, belonging, physical activity, pain, and country-specific patterns of flourishing. Taken as a whole, this growing publication record reflects the larger purpose of the Global Flourishing Study: to create a shared research resource for understanding what helps people and societies flourish across many different cultural contexts. Learn more about the researchers behind the Global Flourishing Study and read our overview, The Global Flourishing Study Is Now a Global Resource. Published research Aglozo, E. Y., Johnson, K. A., Case, B., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). A cross-national analysis of demographic variation in belief in God, gods, or spiritual forces in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 13302. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-79103-w Bialowolski, P., Makridis, C. A., Bradshaw, M., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Gundersen, C., Le Pertel, N., Gibson, C., Jang, S. J., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Analysis of demographic variation and childhood correlates of financial well-being across 22 countries. Nature Human Behaviour, (9), 917–932. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02207-4 Bittár, N., Håkan Nilsson, A. H., Dahlen, D., Nathanson, M., Kajonius, P. J., Kjell, O., Lomas, T., Case, B., Padgett, R. N., Chen, Y., Cowden, R., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in Sweden: Great overall — but not for all. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(15). https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i3.6001 Bradshaw, M., Counted, V., Lomas, T., Woodberry, R. D., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). Childhood experiences and adult prayer or meditation in 22 countries around the world. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 15083. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-99796-x Bradshaw, M., Kent, B. V., Levin, J., Wortham, J. S., Pertel, N. Le, VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). Demographic variation in self-rated physical health across 22 countries: findings from the Global Flourishing Study. BMC Global and Public Health, 3(1), 38. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00141-1 Bradshaw, M., Kent, B. V., Wortham, J. S., Le Pertel, N., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2026). Childhood experiences and adult self-rated physical health in 22 countries. BMC Global and Public Health, 4(1), 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-026-00253-2 Bradshaw, M., Shiba, K., Jang, S. J., Kent, B. V., Bonhag, R., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Demographic variation in symptoms of depression and anxiety across 22 Global Flourishing Study countries. Communications Medicine, 6(1), 100. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-01366-9 Buenconsejo, J. U., Contreras, E., Nabia, J. O., Socrates, M. C. A., Case, B., Lomas, T., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in the Philippines: Country-specific insights from the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(15). https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i3.6247 Chen, Y., Case, B. W., Long, K. N. G., Woodberry, R., Kim, E. S., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Childhood experiences and adult community participation in secular and religious contexts in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 40289. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-24020-9 Chen, Y., Case, B. W., Long, K. N. G., Woodberry, R. D., Kim, E. S., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Community participation in secular and religious contexts across sociodemographic groups in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 39251. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-22806-5 Chen, Z. J., Cowden, R. G., Moreira-Almeida, A., Breedlove, T., Kent, B. V., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Childhood predictors of belief in life after death across 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 13300. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-91615-7 Chen, Z. J., Cowden, R. G., Moreira-Almeida, A., Breedlove, T., Kent, B. V., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Sociodemographic variations of belief in life after death across 22 Countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14310. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83541-x Chen, Y., Kubzansky, L. D., Kim, E. S., Koga, H., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Wilkinson, R., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). The distribution of optimism across sociodemographic groups in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14553. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-77257-1 Chen, Y., Kubzansky, L. D., Kim, E. S., Koga, H., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Wilkinson, R., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). When the glass is half full: early life experiences and adult optimism in 22 countries. Npj Mental Health Research, 4(1), 12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-024-00109-3 Chen, Y., Kim, E. S., Nakamura, J. S., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Wilkinson, R., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Early life experiences and adult orientation to promote good in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 20983. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03343-7 Chen, Y., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Kim, E. S., Nakamura, J. S., Hanson, J. A., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Variations in character involving an orientation to promote good across sociodemographic groups in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14552. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83539-5 Counted, V., Allen, K.-A., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Variations in belonging across 22 countries in the Global Flourishing Study. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2025.2569083 Counted, V., Allen, K.-A., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). The roots of belonging: Childhood predictors of belonging in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 30215. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-14410-4 Counted, V., Long, K. N. G., Cowden, R. G., Witvliet, C. V. O., Gibson, C., Cortright, A., Walsh, J., Purcell, E., Garzon, F., Hathaway, W., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Seeds of hope: Cross-national analysis of childhood predictors of hope in 22 countries. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 20(3), 1111–1137. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-025-10450-0 Counted, V., Long, K. N. G., Cowden, R. G., Witvliet, C. V. O., Gibson, C., Cortright, A., Purcell, E., Walsh, J., Hathaway, W., Garzon, F., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Where hope thrives: Demographic variation in hope across 22 countries. Journal of Happiness Studies, 27(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-025-00981-6 Counted, V., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Cowden, R. G., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Childhood antecedents of adult place satisfaction in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 24831. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-00731-x Cowden, R. G., Chen, Z. J., Wilkinson, R., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Breedlove, T., Gundersen, C., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). A cross-national analysis of sociodemographic variation in suffering across 22 countries. Communications Medicine, 5(1), 144. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-00859-x Cowden, R. G., Chen, Z. J., Wilkinson, R., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Breedlove, T., Gundersen, C., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025b). Childhood predictors of suffering in adulthood across 22 countries. Communications Medicine, 5(1), 217. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-00913-8 Cowden, R. G., Skinstad, D., Lomas, T., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2024). Measuring wellbeing in the Global Flourishing Study: Insights from a cross-national analysis of cognitive interviews from 22 countries. Quality & Quantity. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-024-01947-1 Cowden, R. G., Wilson Fadiji, A., Govender, K., Hendriks, H. J., Schoeman, W. J., Case, B., Chen, Y., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Flourishing in South Africa: Benchmarks and sociodemographic variation across 69 health, wellbeing, and related factors in the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing, 15(3), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i3.5237 Cowden, R. G., Worthington, E. L., Chung, C. A., De Kock, J. H., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Yancey, G., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Bradshaw, M., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Sociodemographic variation in dispositional forgivingness: a cross-national analysis with 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 12144. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-82502-8 Cowden, R. G., Worthington, E. L., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Yancey, G., Witvliet, C. V. O., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Bradshaw, M., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Childhood predictors of dispositional forgivingness in adulthood: A cross-national analysis with 22 countries. Applied Research in Quality of Life. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-025-10451-z Cowden, R.G., Padgett, R.N., Felton, C., Wilkinson, R., Macchia, L., Chen, Z.J., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Koning, S., Gundersen, C., Johnson, B.R., and VanderWeele, T.J. (2026). Longitudinal associations of suffering with subsequent multidimensional well-being in the Global Flourishing Study. Communications Medicine, in press. Cowden, R. G., Worthington, E. L., Padgett, R. N., Felton, C., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Wilkinson, R., Jackson-Meyer, K., Chen, Z. J., Bradshaw, M., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Longitudinal associations of dispositional forgivingness with multidimensional well-being: a two-wave outcome-wide analysis in the Global Flourishing Study. Npj Mental Health Research, 5(1), 3. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-026-00187-5 de la Rosa, P. A., Jang, S. J., Paltzer, J., Okafor, C. N., Bradshaw, M., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Demographic variation in weekly alcohol use across countries in the Global Flourishing Study. Communications Medicine, 6(1), 85. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-01346-z Gonçalves, J. P. de B., Natividade, J., Lucchetti, G., Vallada, H., Giacomoni, C., Cowden, R., Chen, Y., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in Brazil: Health and well-being insights from the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing, in press. Huang, L., Xu, J., Zhao, M. Y., Hou, H., Jarden, A., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Case, B., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in Hong Kong: An analysis of wellbeing-related outcomes in the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(15), 6119. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i3.6119 Jang, S. J., de la Rosa, P. A., Padgett, R. N., Bradshaw, M., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). A cross-national analysis of demographic variation in daily smoking across 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14324. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-76318-9 Jang, S. J., de la Rosa, P. A., Padgett, R. N., Bradshaw, M., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). A cross-national analysis of childhood predictors of daily smoking in adulthood. Communications Medicine, 5(1), 292. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-01005-3 Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2022). The Global Flourishing Study: A New Era for the Study of Well-Being. International Bulletin of Mission Research, 46(2), 272–275. https://doi.org/10.1177/23969393211068096 Johnson, K. A., Moon, J. W., VanderWeele, T. J., Schnitker, S., & Johnson, B. R. (2024). Assessing religion and spirituality in a cross-cultural sample: Development of religion and spirituality items for the Global Flourishing Study. Religion, Brain & Behavior, 14(4), 345–358. https://doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2023.2217245 Kim, E. S., Bradshaw, M., Chen, Y., Chopik, W. J., Okuzono, S. S., Wilkinson, R., Padgett, R. N., Lachman, M. E., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Characterizing the childhood roots of adult sense of mastery across 22 countries in the global flourishing study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 18520. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-03045-0 Kim, Y.I., Jang, S.J., VanderWeele, T.J., and Johnson, B.R. (2026). A cross-national analysis of demographic variation in perceived social trust across 22 countries. Scientific Reports, in press. Kim, E. S., Padgett, R. N., Bradshaw, M., Chen, Y., Chopik, W. J., Okuzono, S., Wilkinson, R., Lachman, M. E., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Mapping demographic variations in sense of mastery across the world a cross-national analysis of 22 countries in the global flourishing study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 29904. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-15304-1 Kim, E. S., Bradshaw, M., Noah Padgett, R., Chen, Y., Shiba, K., Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Case, B. W., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Identifying childhood correlates of adult purpose and meaning across 22 countries (Global Flourishing Study). Npj Mental Health Research, 4(1), 14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-025-00127-9 Kim, Y.-I., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). Childhood predictors of perceptions of social trust across 22 countries in the global flourishing study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14358. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-78201-z Kirchner-Häusler, A., Park, J., Joshanloo, M., Takayama, M., Takano, S., Uchida, Y., Okuzono, S. S., Shiba, K., Shirai, K., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Case, B., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). The state of well-being in Japan: A multidimensional examination using data from the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing. In press Kurniati, N. M. T., Cowden, R. G., Putri, D. E., Zulkaida, A., Kristinawati, W., Wulanyani, N. M. S., Eva, N., Chen, Y., Padgett, R. N., Lomas, T., Case, B., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in Indonesia: Benchmarks and sociodemographic variation across well-being and related outcomes in the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing. In press. Lee, C. G., Kwon, E., Paltzer, J., Okafor, C. N., VanderWeele, T. J., Johnson, B. R., & Kwon, J. (2025). Comparison of the effects of childhood demographic characteristics on physical activity during adulthood across 22 countries. BMC Public Health, 25(1), 2393. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23430-8 Lee, C. G., Kwon, E., Paltzer, J., Okafor, C. N., VanderWeele, T. J., Johnson, B. R., & Choi, J. H. (2025). Comparison of the relationship between key demographic features and physical activity levels across 22 countries. BMC Public Health, 25(1), 2440. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23594-3 Lee, M. T., Wilkinson, R., Long, K. N. G., Case, B. W., Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Bradshaw, M., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Sociodemographic variation and childhood predictors of showing love and care for others in 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 16(1), 1796. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-31380-9 Levin, J., Bradshaw, M., Case, B., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2026). Population Estimates of Wellbeing among Israeli Jews: Findings from the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing. In Press Lomas, T., Bradshaw, M., Case, B., Cowden, R., Crabtree, S., English, C., Fogleman, A., Johnson, K. A., Ritter, Z., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). The development of the Global Flourishing Study questionnaire: Charting the evolution of a new 109-item inventory of human flourishing. BMC Global and Public Health, 3(30). https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00139-9 Lomas, T., Koga, H. K., Padgett, N. P., Pawelski, J. O., Kim, E. S., Makridis, C. A., Gundersen, C., Bradshaw, M., Le Pertel, N., Shiba, K., Felton. C., Helliwell, J. F., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Exploring associations of three evaluative subjective wellbeing measures (Cantril’s ladder, life satisfaction, happiness) with 15 childhood and demographic factors across 22 countries. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-35777-y Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Case, B., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Introduction to the Global Flourishing Study country-specific special issue. International Journal of Wellbeing, (3), 5103. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i3.5105 Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Pawelski, J., Makridis, C. A., Pacheco, P. A. d. l. R. F., Kim, Y.-I., Breedlove, T., Cowden, R. G., Counted, V., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). The prevalence and predictors of experiences of beauty in 22 countries: An international assessment of aesthetic appreciation in the Global Flourishing Study. Applied Research in Quality of Life. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-025-10532-z Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Lee, M. T., Pawelski, J. O., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025a). A cross-national analysis of the childhood predictors of inner peace in the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83353-z Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Lee, M. T., Pawelski, J. O., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025b). Demographic variation in inner peace across 22 countries: A cross-national analysis of the Global Flourishing Study. Journal of Happiness Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00822-y Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Pawelski, J. O., Nilsson, A. H., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). A longitudinal outcome-wide assessment of the impact of life balance on flourishing: A 2-year cross-national analysis of 22 countries in the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-47553-z Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Pawelski, J. O., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025a). Childhood predictors of balance in life: A cross-national analysis of the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89853-w Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Pawelski, J. O., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025b). Demographic variation in balance in life across 22 countries: A cross-national analysis of the Global Flourishing Study. Applied Research in Quality of Life, (20), 1011. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-024-10407-9 Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Warren, M. A., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). A cross-sectional analysis of male versus female flourishing among 202,898 participants across 22 countries on 73 variables in the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40963-z Macchia, L., Kaats, M., Johnson, B., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Physical pain as a component of subjective wellbeing. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14355. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98421-1 Macchia, L., Okafor, C. N., Breedlove, T., Shiba, K., Piper, A., Johnson, B., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Demographic variation in pain across 22 countries. Communications Medicine, 5(1), 154. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-00858-y Macchia, L., Okafor, E., Breedlove, T., Piper, A., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Childhood predictors of physical pain: A cross-national analysis in the Global Flourishing Study. Communications Medicine. In Press Moon, J. W., Johnson, K. A., Case, B., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Childhood predictors of adults’ belief in god, gods, and spiritual forces across 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14819. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98796-1 Nakamura, J. S., Gibson, C. B., Woodberry, R. D., Lee, M. T., Kim, Y.-I., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Understanding who volunteers globally through an examination of demographic variation in volunteering across 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 25299. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-05459-2 Nakamura, J. S., Węziak-Białowolska, D., Woodberry, R. D., Kubzansky, L. D., Shiba, K., Padgett, N. P., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Demographic variation in charitable giving and helping across 22 countries: A cross-national analysis. Scientific Reports. Nakamura, J. S., Lee, M. T., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Echoes of compassion in the Global Flourishing Study: Cross-national distributions and predictors of prosociality and loving care. International Journal of Wellbeing, 16(2), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v16i2.5585 Nakamura, J. S., Woodberry, R. D., Gibson, C. B., Lee, M. T., Kim, Y.-I., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Childhood predictors of volunteering across 22 countries in the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14797. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81639-w Nakamura, J. S., Woodberry, R. D., Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Kubzansky, L. D., Shiba, K., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Childhood predictors of charitable giving and helping across 22 countries in the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 14493. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-77950-1 Nilsson, A. H., Kajonius, P. J., Kjell, O., Dahlen, M., Schwartz, H. A., Case, B., Johnson, B., Lomas, T., Padgett, N., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Swedish well-being: The rising importance of age among demographic, personality, and social relationship factors. SSM - Population Health, 101913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2026.101913 Okafor, C. N., Jean-Berluche, D., Paltzer, J., Kwon, E., Grigoropoulou, N., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). A cross-national analysis of demographic variation in self-rated mental health across 22 countries. Communications Medicine, 5(1), 320. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-01038-8 Okuzono, S. S., Cowden, R. G., Padgett, N., Yancey, G., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Sociodemographic variation in gratitude using a cross-national analysis with 22 countries. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 10(4), 60. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-025-00254-w Ortega, F., Snower, D., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Case, B., Ying, C., Cowden, R. G., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Well-being in the United States: Insights from the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing. In Press Ortiz-Marcos,I., Fernández Espinosa, V., I., Rumayor, M., Dinwoodie, D., Ritchie-Dunham, J.L., Case, B., Lomas, T., Padgett, R, N., Johnson, B, R., VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in Spain. International Journal of Wellbeing, in press. Padgett, R. N., Bradshaw, M., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., Jang, S. J., Kim, E. S., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Analytic methodology for childhood predictor analyses for wave 1 of the Global Flourishing Study. BMC Global and Public Health, 3(1), 29. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00142-0 Padgett, R. N., Bradshaw, M., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., Jang, S. J., Kim, E. S., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Analytic methodology for demographic variation analyses for wave 1 of the global flourishing study. BMC Global and Public Health, 3(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00140-2 Padgett, R. N., Cowden, R., Chattopadhyay, M., Han, Y., Honohan, J., Ritter, Z., Srinivasan, R., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Survey sampling design in wave 1 of the Global Flourishing Study. European Journal of Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-024-01167-9 Padgett, R. N., Felton, C., Bradshaw, M., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., Kim, E. S., Wilkinson, R., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Coordinated outcome-wide analytic methodology for multi-wave analyses of the global flourishing study. BMC Global and Public Health, 4(1), 55. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-026-00287-6 Padgett, R.N. & Felton, C. Case, B. Lomas, T. Johnson, B.R. and VanderWeele, T.J. Life satisfaction is more strongly correlated with flourishing than Cantril’s Ladder. Applied Research in Quality of Life, in press. Padgett, R. N., Le Pertel, N., Hinton, C., Kettler, T., Ho, A. D., Chen, Y., Bradshaw, M., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). A cross-national analysis of sociodemographic variation in educational attainment. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 13870. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-87406-9 Paltzer, J., Carter, E. W., Kwon, E., Okafor, C. N., Padgett, R. N., Benfer, J., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). A cross-sectional study of demographic variation in health problem-related limitations in life across 22 countries: a cross-national analysis. BMC Global and Public Health, 3(1), 78. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00190-6 Paltzer, J., Kwon, E., Okafor, C. N., Padgett, R. N., Carter, E. W., Benfer, J., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). Childhood predictors of health limitations in life across 22 countries: a cross-national and cross-sectional analysis. BMC Global and Public Health, 3(1), 70. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44263-025-00188-0 Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Yancey, G., Managi, S., Bartel, C., Bonhag, R., Padgett, N., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025a). Demographic variation in social support and intimate friend across 22 countries: A cross-national analysis. International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, 10(2), 37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41042-025-00226-0 Ritchie-Dunham, J. L., Yancey, G., Managi, S., Bartel, C., Bonhag, R., Padgett, R. N., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025b). Childhood predictors of social support and intimate friends in a cross-National analysis of the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 25068. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-09953-5 Sattler, S., Adriaans, J., Steckermeier, L. C., Sauer, C., Delhey, J., Brendan Case, B., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Chen, Y., Cowden, R. G., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in Germany: A comprehensive country-specific analysis of wellbeing-related outcomes in the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing. In Press. Ssozi, J., Kiweewa, J., Norman-Krause, N., Bradshaw, M., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2026). Childhood predictors of political voice across 22 countries in the global flourishing study. Scientific Reports, 16(1), 16765. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-46513-x Sung, M., Mattson, S. A., Cowden, R. G., Wilkinson, R., Padgett, R. N., Denckla, C., Shiba, K., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). A cross-national study of demographic variation and childhood predictors of traumatic distress. Communications Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-026-01657-9 Tamés-Muñoz, E., López-Montiel, G., Hernández-Baqueiro, A., Cebral-Loureda, M., Ritchie-Dunham, J., Lomas, T., Case, B., Padgett, R, N., Johnson, B, R., VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in México. International Journal of Wellbeing, in press. VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025a). Multidimensional versus unidimensional approaches to well-being. Nature Human Behavior, 9, 857–863. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02187-5 VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025b). Why we need to measure people’s well-being — lessons from a global survey. Nature, 641(8061), 34–36. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-01254-1 VanderWeele, T. J., Johnson, B. R., Bialowolski, P. T., Bonhag, R., Bradshaw, M., Breedlove, T., Case, B., Chen, Y., Chen, Z. J., Counted, V., Cowden, R. G., de la Rosa, P. A., Fogleman, A., Gibson, C., Grigoropoulou, N., Gundersen, C., Jang, S. J., Johnson, K. A., Kim, E. S., … Yancey, G. (2025). The Global Flourishing Study: Study profile and initial results on flourishing. Nature Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00423-5 VanderWeele, T. J., Johnson, B. R., Bradshaw, M., Goodman, D. M., Kubzansky, L. D., Lomas, T., Moreira-Almeida, A., Okafor, C. N., Ouyang, S. T., & Patel, V. (2026). Mental illness, mental health, and mental well-being. Npj Mental Health Research, 5(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44184-026-00193-7 Vanney, C. E., Mesurado, B., Fitz Herber, A. L., Lomas, T., Case, B., Padgett, R. N., Chen, Y., Cowden, R., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in Argentina: A comprehensive country-specific analysis of wellbeing-related outcomes in the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(15), 5955. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i3.5955 Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Cwynar, A., Bialowolski, P., Cowden, R. G., Wilkinson, R., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). From hardship to resilience: Childhood financial conditions and adult well-being in WEIRD and less WEIRD countries. Social Science & Medicine, 385, 118622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118622 Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Cowden, R. G., Bialowolski, P., Bradshaw, M., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Childhood predictors of religious reading: A cross-national analysis in the Global Flourishing Study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 24899. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-10142-7 Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Cowden, R. G., Paltzer, J., Bialowolski, P., Bradshaw, M., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Early-Life Predictors of Religious and Spiritual Comfort: A Cross-National Analysis in the Global Flourishing Study. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, 21. Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion, 21. Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Bialowolski, P., Cowden, R. G., Fogleman, A., Bradshaw, M., R. Noah, Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Religious reading across borders and demographics: A study of 22 countries. Studia Religiologica, 59(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.4467/20844077SR.26.002.23351 Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Bialowolski, P., Cowden, R. G., Jang, S. J., Bradshaw, M., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Delayed gratification across 22 Countries: A cross-national analysis of demographic variation and childhood predictors. Journal of Research in Personality, 117, 104627. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2025.104627 Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Cowden, R. G., Paltzer, J., Bialowolski, P., Bradshaw, M., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Mapping religious and spiritual comfort worldwide: Demographic patterns across 22 countries. Critical Research on Religion. https://doi.org/10.1177/20503032261451246 Weziak-Bialowolska, D., Zalewska, A. M., Krys, K., Case, B., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Understanding well-being in Poland: Insights from the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing, 15(3), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i3.5175 Wilkinson, R., Shiba, K., Gibson, C. B., Okafor, C. N., Chen, Y., Bradshaw, M., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). Life course insights into social relationship quality: a cross-national analysis of 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 12096. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86246-x Wilkinson, R., Shiba, K., Gibson, C. B., Okafor, C. N., Chen, Y., Padgett, R. N., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Strangers, friends, and everything between: Sociodemographic variation in social relationship quality across 22 countries. Social Indicators Research, 181(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-025-03743-2 Woodberry, R. D., Bradshaw, M., Vander Weele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). Cross-national variation in faith sharing across religious traditions. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 13299. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-83531-z Woodberry, R. D., Johnson, K. A., Case, B., Bradshaw, M., VanderWeele, T. J., & Johnson, B. R. (2025). Religious centrality across 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 15081. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-99183-6 Yemiscigil, A., Baskurt, A. B., Asici, A. A., Lomas, T., Padgett, R. N., Case, B., Chen, Y., Cowden, R., Johnson, B. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2026). Flourishing in Türkiye: A comprehensive country-specific analysis of wellbeing-related outcomes in the Global Flourishing Study. International Journal of Wellbeing, 3(15), 5933. https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v15i3.5933 Zambelli, M., Tse, D. C. K., Cowden, R. G., Höltge, J., Johnson, B. R., Padgett, R. N., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2025). The psychometric network of individual flourishing across nationally representative samples from 22 countries. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 30206. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-15016-6 Non-peer reviewed papers Padgett, R. N., Felton, C., Johnson, B., & VanderWeele, T. (2025). Rglobalflourishing: An R package for coordinated analyses for the Global Flourishing Study. Center for Open Science. https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/vbype

A new research report shares findings from one of the largest studies of adolescent flourishing in schools ever undertaken, as part of the Human Flourishing Program's Flourishing Schools Project. The Student Flourishing in Australian Christian Schools research project surveyed 22,092 students in Years 7 to 12 across 57 Christian schools in Australia, with 17,295 students participating in the second wave of data collection. The study explored how adolescents are flourishing and which school-based practices are associated with higher student flourishing over time. The survey used the Human Flourishing Program’s Adolescent Flourishing Measure, which includes domains such as happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, social relationships, and safety and security. Several findings stand out: Students who reported feeling loved “very much” by parents or guardians had substantially higher flourishing scores than students who reported feeling loved “very little.” The report also found that flourishing scores were lower among students who reported higher levels of smartphone use, while students who reported more sleep and more physical activity had higher flourishing scores. Click to enlarge. Relationships emerged as a central theme. Longitudinal analyses found that student flourishing scores increased most when students laughed with peers at least once a month, with a 22% increase observed from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Other practices associated with increases in flourishing included a sense of playfulness, activities that strengthen social relationships, teachers’ use of humor in class, and social interactions with teachers and staff. The report also highlights the importance of learning engagement, spiritual formation, service-learning, volunteering, and civic and social engagement in student flourishing. Across the findings, the report points to the importance of schools as relational and formative communities, not only places of academic instruction. Dr. Christina Hinton of Research Schools International and the Human Flourishing Program, along with Dr. Brendan Case of the Human Flourishing Program, also presented key findings from the report in a video conversation. The presentation offers a concise overview of the study’s design, major findings, and implications for school leaders, educators, and families.

In this commentary, Tucker Sigourney, a postdoctoral fellow at the Human Flourishing Program, reflects on ideas developed in his recent paper in the European Journal of Philosophy. What does it mean to love a person as a unique individual rather than simply for their qualities, roles, or relationships? Love is an extremely personal thing. I don’t mean that it’s no one else’s business—I mean that it is something which makes you acutely aware of another person. My love for my daughter, for example, is meticulous in its search for the good in her. I see how she considers what to do about other toddlers on the playground, the little movements of her eyes as she looks into mine, and so on. And as she grows, it feels to me like something in her is unfolding, coming through in all these delightful little flickers of light. It feels, in other words, like my daughter is some exquisitely crafted and utterly unique sort of thing, down to her very core, which I am gradually seeing better—and that that is what my love for her is primarily about. Philosophers are alive to this experience, even increasingly so. Many recent investigations into the nature of love, and how to make sense of it, try to give due credit to the particular individual person whom you love. The purpose of my paper, though, is to suggest that only a certain kind of view can do it well. I call that kind of view ‘particularist’. A particularist view maintains that the foremost reason to love someone is who she is—not her traits or categories or relationship to you, but simply who she is, full stop. But what does that mean? What is this thing, “who a person is”, to which love responds? Edith Stein suggests that it’s an “individual nature”: a particular variation on human nature, just as collie is a particular variation on dog, but specific to each person. I find that picture beautiful, and true to life. Anyone who has loved someone knows that love helps us better understand the ones we love, ourselves, even human nature in general. I don’t think that truth is only for poets. It can help guide our philosophy too. Learn more about the Human Flourishing Program's work on love.

For more information, email Kate Jackson-Meyer at kjacksonmeyer@fas.harvard.edu The Flourishing Fellows Program Led by Jonathan Teubner and Kate Jackson-Meyer, the program invites Harvard undergraduates into the work of the Human Flourishing Program through small, semester-long reading groups. Fellows gather alongside program researchers over short, important texts to discuss some of the big questions our research touches on: love, forgiveness, friendship, technology, faith, and what it means to live a good life. Each semester, the Human Flourishing Program offers a slate of reading groups led by faculty and program staff. Groups typically meet three to five times over the course of the semester at our offices in Cambridge. Reading commitments are intentionally modest—a workbook, a novel, a few essays—so that the conversation in the room, not the volume of pre-reading, carries the meeting. There is no application beyond a sign-up form, and there is no cost. Fellows simply commit to showing up and to reading the materials for the groups they join. A path to the Oxford Vivarium Participation in a reading group is also the prerequisite for joining the Human Flourishing Program at the Oxford Vivarium each August—a week of seminars, conversation, and community in Oxford with students and scholars from across the program. Upcoming reading groups Fall 2026: Love Reading Group This reading group will explore love through passages from authors such as Bryan Stevenson, Greg Boyle, and Rev Liz Walker, as well as through engaging activities and reflections that invite students to think of ways to share love in their lives. Spring 2027: Forgiveness Reading Group This reading group invites students to work through the evidence-based REACH Forgiveness Workbook, a workbook of educational, reflective, and embodied exercises. Students will meet to discuss the experience of working through the workbook. Recent reading groups The groups change each semester, shaped by what faculty are working on and what students are eager to discuss. Recent offerings have included: Forgiveness. Working through the evidence-based REACH Forgiveness Workbook alongside the latest empirical research on how forgiveness shapes mental health and flourishing. AI and Social Flourishing. Reading and discussing how social AI is reshaping four central places of human life: family, friendship, work, and religion. Till We Have Faces. A close reading of C. S. Lewis's last novel that delves into issues such as love, self-understanding, and the hiddenness of the divine. Confessions (“Just Show Up” Reading Group). Listening to Augustine's Confessions together over a weekly meal.

Upcoming Events Christianity & Public Health Conference. October 24. Cambridge (in person). Flourishing Fellows student reading group for Harvard undergraduates. Fall 2026 semester (in person). Recent Events Global Summit: Fostering Hope for Children. June 3-5, 2026. Vatican City (in person and virtual). Stay Connected

If you’re interested in learning more about the initiative, please fill out this short form. The Evidence-Based Parenting for Flourishing Families initiative, led by Dr. Christina Hinton, shares key principles from research in child development, psychology, neuroscience, education and parenting, dispels popular parenting myths, and offers evidence-based strategies for common parenting situations and challenges. Research from around the world shows that parenting best promotes holistic wellbeing, including social-emotional development, mental and physical health, and academic learning, when it is characterized by: warmth, structure, and autonomy support (OECD, 2020). Dr. Hinton is writing a book on evidence-informed parenting that is organized around these three key parenting ingredients. This initiative disseminates resources related to these key ingredients and beyond from our Evidence-Based Parenting for Flourishing Families project as well as the work of our expert partners. We seek to build an international community of academics and parents to promote evidence-informed parenting for flourishing globally.

Participate in the Academic Flourishing Initiative Colleges and universities put forward grand aspirations through their mission and vision statements. The founding mission of Stanford University is “to promote the public welfare by exercising an influence in behalf of humanity and civilization.” Harvard College places social leadership at the center of its aim stating that its mission is “to educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society.” These kinds of aspirations are noble, but leaders of these institutions can substantially improve progress toward the goals described in their mission statements through proper measurement and management. Academic Flourishing Brochure from the Human Flourishing Program. In 2025, The Human Flourishing Program introduced a 24-item student formation assessment designed to survey university students and evaluate their experience of university life as it relates to academic flourishing, to supplement more general flourishing assessments, and to more adequately evaluate progress towards the aspirations put forward by colleges and universities. The student formation assessment evaluates student perceptions of the university's contribution to their own growth in wisdom, leadership, critical thinking, capacity to positively change the world, or to work across differences. The hope of the academic flourishing assessment is to help measure progress toward what is often present in college and universities vision and mission statements, which typically aspire to transform students into intellectually capable and virtuous leaders of society. Introduction fo the Academic Flourishing Initiative Pursuant to that goal, the Human Flourishing Program has launched the Academic Flourishing Initiative to catalyze a movement of colleges and universities dedicated to flourishing. The Initiative has three distinct goals: Carry out new research on academic flourishing Improve university leaders' ability to influence and promote student flourishing Advance a community of practice in higher education oriented toward human flourishing The initiative is a member-sponsored research collaborative in which colleges and universities participate in the collaborative by conducting campus-wide research on student flourishing using the student formation survey and other flourishing assessments on their campuses. The data collected on these various items will help college and university leaders understand what is and what is not going well at their institutions and what improvements might be made, and will hopefully eventually lead to significant research concerning university life on the factors that may influence flourishing in educational environments. Early insights are already emerging as the Human Flourishing Program conducted campus wide research at UNC Chapel Hill in 2024 and a subset of the student formation assessment was included in the Wall Street Journal's 2025 Survey of U.S. Colleges and Universities. We have reported some of the initial results of this work in a Harvard Crimson op-ed, and the work was also recently covered by LearningWell and Inside Higher Ed and in our own write-up in Psychology Today. Members of the Academic Flourishing Initiative will gain unique research insights and access to conferences, webinars, events, and research tools produced by the Human Flourishing Program on these topics. More information is available in our academic flourishing brochure and brief two-page description. More details on the theoretical motivation for this work is given in: VanderWeele, T.J., & Case, B. (2025). Academic flourishing and student formation. International Journal of Wellbeing, 15(2), 5003, 1-29. See also recent coverage in Inside Higher Ed and LearningWell. We invite colleges and universities throughout the world to join us. See also our Flourishing Schools Project for work on the promotion of flourishing in K-12 education. FAQ What makes the Academic Flourishing Initiative unique? The Academic Flourishing Initiative was conceived with one clear purpose: to give colleges and universities data that could help them guide their students and campuses toward greater flourishing and student formation. Our goal is to provide research that cuts through the noise and removes guesswork around the elusive concepts that are valued in principle – but too often neglected in practice – by institutions of higher learning. What exactly is the Flourishing Data Collaborative? The Flourishing Data Collaborative is the central data collection and research production engine at the Human Flourishing Program. It is a research consortium made up of participating members that support ongoing research into academic flourishing in a genuine community of practice. What is the cost? The cost to participate as a member for the 2025-2026 academic year in the Data Collaborative is $10,000 per institution. What do members get? Members will receive a link to the Academic Flourishing Survey, hosted by HFH, for use in on-campus data collection. HFH will receive and analyze those data, and will return a research report to campus leadership that provides a summary of the findings (with scores broken down by student year and along demographic lines), guides to interpretation, and benchmarking for some indicators against norms at other institutions. Membership in the Data Collective also includes the right to publish the results of the report for any non-commercial purpose. Members also receive invitations to exclusive conferences and events and access to resources published within the Data Collaborative community. Can institutions pre-pay for multiple years of membership in the collaborative? Yes, because colleges and universities may prefer to see the impact of their work on the lifecycle of a student from matriculation to graduation, membership can be renewed annually or pre-established for multiple years. When does data collection happen? Data collection will take place spring of 2026 so that freshman students will have had at least one semester of college life. The Data Collaborative will provide guidance on strategies for maximizing response rates. Can graduate and professional schools participate in the Data Collaborative? Yes, the initiative encompasses institutions at the graduate level. Membership in the Data Collaborative is at the school-wide level, thus sub-units such as concentrations, cohorts, or career tracks will not be eligible. Please write to us to inquire about cost of membership for graduate and professional schools in the collaborative. What data is being used and shared? All survey responses collected from the Academic Flourishing Survey are deidentified and anonymous. The Flourishing Data Collaborative houses a database that compiles data collected from participating members. The program retains the right to publish deidentified analyses and research from data in the collective dataset. More information about data use and security can be found in the data use agreement. Where can I find the data use agreement? You can download a copy of the data use agreement under the "resources" tab on this page. It is provided during the registration process for the Data Collaborative and you can also write to academicflourishing@fas.harvard.edu Can I participate in this work if I am not part of an institution in the collaborative? Yes, individuals, scholars, and professors at universities who are interested in this work can participate by referring university leaders to the Data Collaborative, requesting invitations to events, working with Human Flourishing Program staff on publication and dissemination efforts, and writing about the results of our work. Upcoming Events Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of upcoming events. Resources Academic Flourishing Brochure from the Human Flourishing Program. Data Collaborative Invitation Letter. Member Data Use Agreement. Data Collaborative Sample Report.

To join the Network, please email Jonathan Beale at jon@drjonbeale.com The Flourishing Network convenes regular online discussions of best practices and different approaches to assessing and promoting flourishing in a wide variety of settings, connecting people from around the world interested in research and practice. The network provides opportunities to engage with the flourishing framework and research of the Human Flourishing Program and to develop collaborations. Conversations have covered the measurement of flourishing among different groups, the development of interventions to enhance specific domains of well-being and overall flourishing, and the revision of K-12, university, and medical school curricula to emphasize the centrality of flourishing and its pathways for leading a good life and building a better society. The Flourishing Network hosts a number of specific Interest Groups, listed below. Some of these groups function as Communities of Practice—people united by a shared concern or passion who improve how they work through ongoing interaction. Interest Groups Click the title to see a description and contact information. AI for Human Flourishing In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, AI has emerged as a transformative force. We believe with the right guidance and implementation, AI can become a powerful catalyst for enhancing human flourishing. We are a working group and think tank whose first project is to design, test, and deploy a live framework grounded in the principles of flourishing. This framework can significantly empower decision-making processes around AI products for medium and large companies and AI technology product design. This framework serves as a vital 'anchor' for the cultural component of the decision matrix, facilitating effective communication between all stakeholders, including director-level executives, employees, and even external customers and clients. We deploy through organizations to impact more individuals. We invite you to join our conversation and contribute to a cause that aligns with your commitment to enhancing human life. For more information or to get involved, please email the Interest Group Chair, Tamara Lechner, at tamara@posminds.com with the subject: AI4HumanFlourishing. Our group meets on the 3rd Thursday of each month from noon to 1pm PST. Economics of Well-being and Global Human Flourishing This Interest Group is a space where we collectively reimagine an economics of well-being centered around sustainable human flourishing. We aim to examine and redefine value in society and economic metrics we employ to measure impact. The group explores means by which we can create regenerative ecosystems that incentivize contributions to the greater good with a lens on human sustainability. Our inaugural symposium was held on July 26, 2022 and our second symposium on the economics of well-being and global flourishing; voices from policy and practice was held on February 28, 2023. Themes and frameworks include: stakeholder centered capitalism, conscious capitalism, generative love in the workplace, well-being metrics measuring flourishing beyond GDP, measurement of gross national happiness, WELLBYS (well-being index), redefining economic metrics for flourishing research, policy, and practice. Some global partners include Institute for Global Flourishing, What Works Well-being, STATEC, Gallup, Global Shapers Community NYC-Manhattan Hub. For more information or to get involved, email the Interest Group Chair, Dr. Noémie Le Pertel, nl2463@caa.columbia.edu subject: Economics of Well-being. Education for Flourishing The purpose of this interest group is to (i) Integrate the domains of human flourishing as articulated by VanderWeele (2017) in PK-12, university, and non-traditional educational settings. (ii) To promote overall well-being and improve outcomes for individuals, communities, and the broader global community by implementing the Process for Flourishing. (iii) To translate the theory and philosophy of human flourishing into everyday practice and disseminate research. This group is part of the Education for Flourishing initiative of the Consortium for Human Flourishing at Saint Louis University. For information, please contact working group chair Amrita Chaturvedi (amrita.chaturvedi@slu.edu). Education, Spirituality, and Flourishing The purpose of the Education, Spirituality, and Flourishing Interest Group is to identify, test, and implement core pillars of Spirituality in traditional and non-traditional educational settings in order to help children and youth flourish. This group serves as a platform to bring educational researchers and practitioners together to help the younger generation find a greater sense of meaning and pursue flourishing within their communities. For information, please contact Interest Group Co-Chairs Amrita Chaturvedi (amrita.chaturvedi@slu.edu) and Lynn Swaner (lswaner@cardus.ca). Flourishing by Design The newly formed Flourishing by Design Interest Group aims to make flourishing research actionable by design. Bringing together a collective of passionate multidisciplinary research professionals and industry practitioners, this group will not only discuss and disseminate well-being science scholarship but also translate theory into practice, examining spatial, organizational, and digital applications by which flourishing health and well-being might be realized for individuals, communities, and the planet. We will consider design praxis (i.e., the design process) and practice (i.e., the design outcome), ensuring that intentionality, integrity, respect, and purpose are in-built as essential in design engagements and therefore results. We look forward to welcoming you into this community as we collectively explore what designing for flourishing or Flourishing by Design means today and how it might precipitate flourishing futures. The Flourishing by Design Chair is Dr. Jenna Mikus, Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Well-being Science, Fellow of Queensland University of Technology’s Centre for Decent Work & Industry, and Managing Partner of Eudae Group—an advisory consultancy that explores how organizational and spatial design can be curated to prompt flourishing health and well-being in the context of Aristotle’s concept of eudaemonia (i.e., realizing people best selves). For inquiries or to become a member, please connect with Jenna Mikus via LinkedIn and request to join the FxD LinkedIn group. We invite you to join us on this exciting journey as we embark on a quest to create a better, more flourishing world, where innovation meets purpose and where design is recognized for its power to transform lives. Flourishing Measures The Measures CoP, a subgroup of the Harvard Flourishing Network, is a multidisciplinary and multinational group of researchers and practitioners who are combining science and real-world practice to define and measure human flourishing across settings and over the course of a lifetime. We are committed to moving the field forward and understanding and supporting the flourishing of all. While there are many definitions of "Flourishing" and some established measures, we are interested in pursuing/developing measures that are multi-disciplinary and multi-national in perspective. For more information, please contact the Chair, Beth Tek (beth.tek@flourishingassociates.com). Flourishing at Work Focusing on the WORK pathway of flourishing and acknowledging that flourishing is a critical business imperative, let’s connect over our shared interest in supporting organizations who strive to help their people and social ecosystems. Please consider joining our newly formed interest group under this Flourishing Network umbrella to better understand the value of how bringing peer-reviewed science, research and interventions will benefit the world of work. As business leaders, solution providers, researchers, and invested leaders, please lend your voice to this new community - Flourishing at Work – a business imperative. The Flourishing at Work Interest Group is Co-Chaired by Dr. Karen Doll (drkarendoll@gmail.com) and Marie Gill (marie@florenscollective.com), COO of FLERISH and Co-Founder of FLORENS, a flourishing collective of businesses who share the passion and focus of bringing the flourishing framework and interventions to help all people flourish. Flow & Flourish Chair: Dr. Marianne Cottin Flow & Flourish is an Interest Group within the Flourishing Network hosted by Human Flourishing Program at Harvard dedicated to exploring the phenomenon of flow across diverse disciplines. Led by Dr. Marianne Cottin, our mission is to bring together academics, coaches, and individuals who regularly experience flow to foster a collaborative environment that enhances human flourishing. This group provides a unique platform where different perspectives on flow—whether from scientific, artistic, athletic, work or everyday contexts—can intersect and inspire new insights and practical applications. Our activities include interdisciplinary workshops, joint research projects, and community-building events designed to nurture a network of flow enthusiasts. By integrating diverse experiences and expertise, Flow & Flourish aims to develop innovative strategies that promote well-being and peak performance across personal and professional realms. Join Us: To become a part of this vibrant community, engage in transformative discussions, and contribute to the collective pursuit of a flourishing society, please contact marianne@mariannecottin.com We encourage anyone passionate about exploring the depths and potentials of flow to join us. Futures of Education The Futures of Education Interest Group’s purpose is to engage and inspire the world to think purposefully and creatively about educational futures and to imagine and co-create opportunities that could exist for educational transformation in every context. As part of our work, we are setting up a podcast and events series to drive inter-generational collaboration globally. Please join us as we explore the latest futures thinking, and co-produce visions of the future that can empower us to change the present, enabling a flourishing youth, for a thriving planet. For information, please contact the Chair, Alex Battison (dephead@lordwandsworth.org). Interventions Development Group The purpose of this interest group is to close the gap between research and practice, whereby interventions for flourishing developed through research are translated into daily life to benefit the people who need them most. To make this possible, the group has developed an intervention library template where interventions may be catalogued. The library has a two-fold purpose: interventions can be viewed, and interventions can be shared by interested persons. These interventions can be utilized to improve flourishing in a variety of settings. The group plans to develop a guideline for applying various human flourishing interventions for people and groups interested in improving their flourishing survey scores. Furthermore, our interest group members carry out individual and group research related to interventions for flourishing. They also organize seminars, courses, programs, and outreaches that enhance flourishing using evidence-based interventions, thereby positively impacting the population around them and creating a vibrant space of trust. For more information and for those who would like to share their interventions on the library, please reach out to the chair, Eziamaka Ezenkwele (pezenkwele@gmail.com). Justice for Flourishing Exploring the intersection of justice and flourishing is crucial in our pursuit of transforming ourselves, society, and the world. As such, the 'Justice for Flourishing’ Interest Group is committed to promoting justice and enhancing flourishing worldwide through critical dialogue and action. To this end, we provide a platform for interdisciplinary and international collaboration to further research, practice, and action in this area. For more information about the Justice for Flourishing group, please contact the Chair, Kristine E. Larson, at klarson@loyola.edu. Leadership for Flourishing We exist to reimagine leadership as empowering ecosystem-wide flourishing. We build on extensive academic research regarding the power of leadership to impact individuals, organizations, and societies and scientific work on the nature and drivers of human flourishing. For more information, visit this Group’s external website or contact co-chairs Katy Granville-Chapman (katy.granville-chapman@education.ox.ac.uk) or Emmie Bidston (ejb@cantab.net). Love and Flourishing The Love and Flourishing Interest Group convenes regular online discussions on the relationship between love and flourishing in a variety of social settings and explore how to promote love in practice. We explore the possibility that the promotion of love within and across societies has tremendous underutilized potential to enhance flourishing. For an introduction to this topic, see this article. We engage with a variety of modes of scholarly inquiry in order to explore definitional, theoretical, and empirical work on love and flourishing, and advance the practical promotion of love. This group is co-chaired by Matthew Lee and Jelena Nikolic. For more information, please contact Jelena (jelena.nikolic@purdueglobal.edu). Spirituality & Flourishing Interest Group The Spirituality & Flourishing Interest Group (SFIG) is a global, multifaith, inter-spiritual, and cross-disciplinary gathering of professionals committed to making substantive contributions to fuller human flourishing by incorporating practice wisdom from spiritual traditions and approaches into our work. Together we ask how we might foster flourishing through various spiritual and/or religious practices, communities, traditions, observances, teachings, disciplines, and approaches. We explore the sorts of interventions and involvements allow us to tap, individually and collectively, the spiritual and/or religious resources available at present, and so develop greater capacities for connectedness. SFIG was originally convened as a working group in the Harvard communities of practice in 2022 by Dr. Kelly Murphy Mason; in 2024, it launched its pilot program providing outreach to faith communities in the U.S. and U.K. and offered its first free webinar to the general public. This group meets one Tuesday each month during the regular academic year and has a cap set on membership; enrollment usually opens in September and February. For more information about SFIG, please contact either one of the two co-chairs of this group: Dr. Mason at kelly.m.mason@post.harvard.edu or Dr. Sharyn Lenhart at salenhart@aol.com. People can also stay connected to the work of SFIG through its website, www.spiritualflourishing.com, and its LinkedIn group, www.linkedin.com/groups/9810707.. . Sustainability and Organizational Human Flourishing This Interest Group is a space where we collectively examine and expand the role of organizations in promoting sustainable human flourishing. We translate research on organizational well-being from the lens of systems that have the potential to drive human sustainability. Simultaneously, we leverage shared insights from practice, such as CSR initiatives and organizational change work, in order to effect healthier organizations for society and the people who work for them. A shift from shareholder value to stakeholder impact centers organizational responsibility to embrace community flourishing. We recognize the power of organizations to impact social change and work as a critical driver of human and community flourishing to society. Our group seeks to inform measurement and strategy to share collective insights for societal good. Some global partners include Institute for Global Flourishing, Gallup, Global Shapers Community NYC-Manhattan Hub. For more information, please contact Interest Group Chair Dr. Noémie Le Pertel (nl2463@caa.columbia.edu). Our Network co-sponsors Flourish FM, "a podcast for the good life," hosted by long-standing Network members Jonathan Beale and Nick Holton. Find resources created by members of the Network. At present, we meet via Zoom on the final Tuesday of each month at 3:00 pm Eastern Time (United States). The founding director of the Network is Matthew Lee and he has been co-leading it since the summer of 2022 with Christina Hinton and Jonathan Beale. To learn more about the Network, please email Jonathan Beale at this email address (jon@drjonbeale.com). Upcoming Events Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of upcoming events. Past Events In addition to monthly meetings for members and their guests, the Flourishing Network also hosts free, online public events. On May 25, 2021, we hosted our first public webinar, "Education as Regenerative Space," followed by a symposium on the "Economics of Wellbeing & Global Human Flourishing" on July 26, 2022, and a symposium on "Promoting Flourishing in Schools" on August 31, 2022. The Network hosted our first in-person event titled, "Entrepreneurship and Flourishing Workshop" in April, 2023 and co-hosted a second in-person event titled, "Promoting Flourishing in Schools" with Research Schools International and Sevenoaks School in October 2023. Videos Human Flourishing and Flow (54:31) Promoting Flourishing in Schools (1:21:38) The Economics of Wellbeing & Global Human Flourishing (2:19:16) Education as Regenerative Space (1:27:44) Symposium on Love in World Religions"(1:59:38) Podcasts Pathways to Global Flourishing (1:18:42): Flourish FM How to progress through life from one strength to another (46:31): Flourish FM

Join our network or register for an upcoming program or seminar. The Global Forgiveness Movement at the Human Flourishing Program uses evidence-based interventions to make the world a more loving and forgiving place. What is forgiveness? Forgiveness is replacing ill will with goodwill to those who have wronged us. This means desiring the flourishing of the offender, but without necessarily forgetting or forgoing justice. Forgiveness is compatible with accountability and truth. Forgiveness requires a two-fold movement: 1) a decision to forgive, and 2) replacing negative emotions towards the offender with more positive emotions. Should we forgive? Our research shows that forgiveness is good for individual and communal health: Forgiving those who have harmed us leads to flourishing because it allows us to let go of negative feelings that can undermine our health and well-being. Forgiveness lowers depression and anxiety. Forgiveness can, over time, help free one from rumination and hurt. The REACH Forgiveness Workbook What is the REACH Model of Forgiveness? Psychologist Everett Worthington’s REACH Forgiveness model is one of the most widely tested models of forgiveness, and is synthesized in Do-It-Yourself workbooks. (R) Recall the interpersonal hurt one experienced and the emotions associated with it. (E) Try to empathize with the offender. (A) Explore the idea that forgiveness can be seen as an altruistic gift to the offender. (C) Make a voluntary commitment to forgive. (H) Seek to hold onto or maintain forgiveness through difficult times. Does the REACH Workbook actually promote forgiveness and mental health? The REACH Workbook is evidence-based. The Human Flourishing Program was involved in comprehensively testing the workbook: The study was a randomized controlled trial with 4500 participants across 5 relatively high conflict countries: Colombia, South Africa, Ukraine, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. The results indicate that the workbook is effective in: increasing forgiveness reducing anxiety and reducing depression increasing hope, and increasing flourishing References We are grateful to be able to do this work through the generosity of Bancel Philanthropies and the Kern Family Foundation. (See Long, K. N. G., Worthington, E. L., VanderWeele, T. J., O’Connor, L. E., Chen, Y., & Hook, J. N. (2020). Forgiveness of others and subsequent health and well-being in mid-life: A longitudinal study on female nurses. BMC Psychology, 8, 104. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-00470-w) (See Ho, M. Y., Worthington, E. L., Jr., Cowden, R. G., Bechara, A. O., Chen, Z. J., Gunatirin, E. Y., Joynt, S., Khalanskyi, V. V., Korzhov, H., Kurniati, N. M. T., Rodriguez, N., Salnykova, A., Shtanko, L., Tymchenko, S., Voytenko, V. L., Zulkaida, A., Mathur, M. B., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2024). International REACH forgiveness intervention: A multisite randomised controlled trial. BMJ Public Health, 2, e000072. DOI: 10.1136/bmjph-2023-000072) Resources Global Forgiveness Movement Summary PDF REACH Forgiveness Workbook REACH Forgiveness Workbook, Adapted for Churches RECEIVE Divine Forgiveness Workbook Get Involved Join our Forgiveness Network Questions? Contact Kate Jackson-Meyer, Ph.D. at kjacksonmeyer@fas.harvard.edu. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of upcoming events.

If you’re interested in working with us or learning more about this opportunity, please fill out this short form. Schools aspire to support students character skills and well-being and yet often have only anecdotal evidence to show the effectiveness of their efforts. If schools and educational systems aim to contribute to student development in these areas, it is important for them to assess the progress that students are making in these other areas beyond traditional academic achievement measures. In work originally commissioned by the OECD, Tyler VanderWeele and Christina Hinton have put forward a three-pillar framework for assessment in Metrics for education for flourishing: A framework (2024). These pillars are: 1) current flourishing, 2) academic attainment, and 3) social-emotional and character-based capacities. Each pillar can be assessed at the individual level, to see whether students and members of the educational community are flourishing individually and at the school or school system level to measure where there is adequate systems level support in these areas. To learn more about this work, see Dr VanderWeele's post on Education for Flourishing. Flourishing Schools Project Brochure from the Human Flourishing Program. At the Human Flourishing Program, we have launched our Flourishing in Schools Survey, which includes measures for student flourishing, character skills, cognitive and epistemic virtues, community well-being, and questions about school support for these areas. This survey has been piloted in collaboration with Scots College in Sydney, Australia, and similar approaches were used previously in our work with Research Schools International. The results from the survey provide insights into each school’s strengths and areas for growth in supporting students’ character skills and flourishing. For example, it yields results on the groups that are flourishing or may need more support, what character skills are strong and those which have room for growth, and the degree to which each school is implementing evidence-based programming for fostering character skills and flourishing. We invite networks of schools who wish to run the Flourishing in Schools Survey with their students to join the Flourishing Data Collaborative. Networks that participate in the survey will receive a report of their results and gain network and school-level insights about student character skills and flourishing. We encourage school networks to participate in the survey repeatedly to track and support students' character skills and flourishing over time. Launch Webinar, May 2026 More information is also available in our Flourishing Schools Project brochure. The best way to begin working with us is by filling out this short form. If you have a unique question, you can write to Dr. Christina Hinton at christina_hinton@g.harvard.edu or flourishingschools@fas.harvard.edu VanderWeele, T. J., and Hinton, C. (2024). Metrics for education for flourishing: A framework. International Journal of Wellbeing, 14(1), 1–35. Kristjánsson, K. and VanderWeele, T.J. (2025). The proper scope of education for flourishing. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 59:634-650. Upcoming Events Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified of upcoming events.