HHS HealthBeat (June 16, 2009)

Money, fame and looking good

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Well, college grads, all that’s left now is the rest of your lives. Any plans?

At the University of Rochester in New York, Edward Deci and his colleagues looked into the kinds of achievement that make grads feel good. They examined survey data on the goals of 147 grads in their second year after graduation.

One option was wealth, fame and image.

[Edward Deci speaks] "Those who had increased the most in the amount of satisfaction of wealth, fame and image actually showed greater anxiety, depressive symptoms – these indicators of ill-being."

Deci says those who attained more deep, enduring relationships and helped others wound up with more well-being.

The study in the Journal of Research in Personality was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May 7, 2011