Following the link from the article to the site for the study this comes from--Gallup Healthways--one finds on the very first page encountered that Utah ranks in the top 10 among the 50 states in percentage of residents who are "thriving" and percentage of residents who are optimistic about the future:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/146885/Posit ... tates.aspxTwo clicks away one learns that Utah is also in the top 10 in the nation in "overall well-being":
http://www.gallup.com/poll/125066/State-States.aspxActually, this is an off year for Utah, which in the previous two years has vied with Hawaii for the state with the greatest overall well-being:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/125849/hawai ... -best.aspxhttp://www.gallup.com/poll/122264/well- ... ation.aspxRegarding stress, Gallup studies show that happiness levels and reported stress are not always inversely related:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/122420/stres ... lated.aspx. And Utah, though one of the more stressed states even a couple years ago, has climbed in stress in the last couple years, likely for the same reasons driving its drop in overall well-being (from 2nd out of 50 to an abysmal 9th out of 50) whatever those may be. One can only assume that the state was very secular two years ago and has somehow in the meantime defied its longstanding secularism to become deplorably Mormon...?
The Gallup Healthways article about this year's stress data further describes the complex relationship of stress to other outcomes, twice mentioning that Utah's positive outcomes in other areas contrast with its reported stress:
"The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index state data underscore that stress is a complex emotion that is likely related to numerous life issues. States where residents have higher levels of stress differ from each other on various fronts: Some have more high-income residents, while others have more low-income residents. Some, like Utah and Massachusetts, have residents who boast great physical health, while others, like Kentucky and West Virginia, have residents who are in poor health. And in some of the high-stress states residents rate their lives highly -- as in Connecticut, Utah, and Massachusetts -- while in others, residents rate their lives at the lowest end of the scale, as in Ohio and Rhode Island."
http://www.gallup.com/poll/147767/hawai ... -utah.aspxThe fact is that data showing Utahns as having a high quality of life on nearly every measure have been around a long time and come from a variety of sources.
Take, as just one example--but an impressive one, the recent book by European social scientists
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger (
http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Level-Equa ... 1608190366 ). The book, which is not about Utah but about the beneficial effects of socioeconomic equality, presents data for the fifty states correlating socioeconomic equality with a wide range of social goods. Utah--which ranks highest in socioeconomic equality among the fifty states--also ranks near the top in every socially desirable outcome, including crime rates, health, levels of trust within communities, etc., etc.
Of course, none of this is to deny that Utah couldn't benefit from some counter-cultural eastern urban cats wandering in to join us in our state of bliss. ;)
Don