Director Robert Waldinger oversees one of the longest-running longitudinal studies in scientific history, known formally as the Harvard Study of Adult Development. Initiated in 1938, this massive psychological project tracked the physical and emotional health of multiple generations to understand what actually keeps humans thriving as they age.
Researchers initially recruited 724 men from two very different Boston populations during the Great Depression. Half of the participants were sophomores at Harvard College, while the other half came from some of Boston’s most impoverished and troubled neighborhoods.
Tracing Decades of Human Connection
Over the decades, psychiatrists and social scientists tracked these subjects through regular questionnaires, medical records, blood tests, and in-person interviews. The accumulated data eventually expanded to include more than 1,300 of the original participants’ children.
The study famously revealed that strong, positive relationships protect our bodies and brains far more than social status, wealth, or even genetics. This landmark psychological milestone published its major multi-generational findings in a bestselling book co-authored by Robert Waldinger in January 2023.