Self-reported wellbeing is correlated with activity in a number of brain areas. The sensation of pain is most clearly experienced in the anterior cingulate cortex which registers both physical pain and social pain.

The mind affects the body and vice versa. Wellbeing predicts mortality as well as smoking does. Prolonged psychological stress leads to excessive production of adrenaline/epinephrine and cortisol, over-activity of the immune system and to excessive inflammation in the body. Equally, the body affects the mind. This is obvious in the effects of drugs, recreational and psychiatric.

Our genes have important effects on our wellbeing. We know this in two ways. Identical twins (who have identical genes) are much more similar to each other in their wellbeing than are non-identical twins. Adopted children are more similar in mental health to their biological parents than to the parents who raised them. It is however not possible to neatly separate the effects of the genes and the environment for two reasons: (1) Genes and environment often interact in their effects on wellbeing. (2) Genes and the environment are correlated.

Our thoughts affect our feelings and our feelings affect our thoughts. But the way to break into this cycle is through changing our thoughts. Experimental evidence shows the effectiveness of many ways of doing this. Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) teaches us to observe our automatic negative thoughts and make space for more positive thinking. Positive psychology builds on this, applying the lessons to all of us, and not just those in distress. It helps us all to build our emotional intelligence. The Action for Happiness movement applies these lessons through their 10 Keys to Happier Living. Mindfulness meditation, through non-judgemental and friendly engagement with the present moment, can transform our mental state and improve our immune system.

Mental and physical illness are intimately related. Both cause pain in the same area of the brain and reduce our ability to function normally. Some 20% of the population would be diagnosed as having a mental illness. But in most advanced countries under a third of them are in treatment (and most of those are only receiving medication, not psychological treatment).

Though severe conditions require medication, evidence-based psychological treatment is recommended for all conditions. With recovery rates from depression or anxiety disorders of at least 50%, these treatments are highly cost-effective, because they enable many more people to work productively and they also reduce the demand for costly physical healthcare.

Physical pain is an important determinant of life satisfaction, and good physical health prolongs life. To evaluate any healthcare-intervention, its benefits should be measured in WELLBYs. These need to be high enough relative to the cost.

Wellbeing varies hugely in the human population. About 80% of this variance is within countries and about 20% is between countries. Between 1980 and 2007 average wellbeing rose in more countries than where it fell. But since 2008 wellbeing has fallen in roughly the same number of countries as where it has risen. Since 2006/8 there has been a large worldwide increase in negative affect and in stress. In the US the inequality of wellbeing is one of the highest in the OECD, whereas Europe (since 2008) now has lower wellbeing inequality than any other region.

Average wellbeing is very similar for men and women in almost every country. It declines with age in most parts of the world but in North America and Europe it improves after mid-life. Average wellbeing is below average for most ethnic minorities in most countries. Children’s wellbeing is lower in the UK, the United States and Japan than in most other OECD countries. Meanwhile, adult life-expectancy has risen in most regions of the world, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. So the Wellbeing-Years (WELLBYs) which a person now born can expect have increased since 2006–8 in all regions of the world.

Chapter 5 highlights that a large share of the singlehood scholarship draws little attention to the race or class dimensions of this demographic shift of the rise in singlehood. Collectively, Chapter 5 argues that the singlehood scholarship overlooks how systemic inequalities, including racism and gendered racism, shape singlehood among Black adults – especially Black women. Such shortcomings are particularly relevant when it comes to looking at whether Black individuals are single through choice or circumstance (or both), and what the implications of this are for the Love Jones Cohort particularly and the Black middle-class more generally. Chapter 5 looks at the degree to whether the women and men of the Love Jones Cohort chose their SALA status, and how systemic inequalities, institutional constraints, and societal pressures play a role in such decision-making (or lack thereof), particularly among the Cohort’s women. Chapter 5 suggests that while many hope or anticipate that they will one day marry and so leave the Cohort, this is not something they are willing to pay any price to achieve – and introduces the term “respectability singleness.”

Chapter 2 implicates how the definition of the Black middle class has evolved over time and how the earlier research underlying such definitions has principally focused on Black married-couple families with children, and largely overlooked those who live SALA lifestyles. Chapter 2 addresses this gap in the literature by interrogating how those within the Love Jones Cohort conceptualize themselves as members of the Black middle class and how they define the Black middle class more generally. Chapter 2 also questions whether the emergence and presence of the Cohort complicates established definitions of the Black middle class. Chapter 2 demonstrates that, in general, those within the Cohort conceptualized middle-classness according to broader definitions of the Black middle class, in terms that align with the scholarship outlining objective, subjective, and a combination of both measures. Chapter 2 documents how education and income are central to the way Cohort members judge their (and others’) middle-class status, and associated subjective measures, such as education-related networks and the lifestyle commodities, as well as activities that a middle-class income provides.

The conclusion revisits several interrelated theoretical questions, including whether our views of what constitutes the Black middle class needs to be redefined, and how traditional notions of family are challenged by the rise of the Love Jones Cohort. The conclusion restates the underlying impetus of the book: to interrogate the unique lifestyle of the Love Jones Cohort, and thereby continuing to understand how their intersecting identities of race, class, gender, and singleness shape their life decisions. The conclusion also argues the notion of a family (of one) or how based on the centrality of friendship networks to those in the Love Jones Cohort we should embrace and institutionalize augmented families, thereby allowing those in the Cohort to establish family units with friends (and themselves) in a legal manner – an approach I term “the SALA Family Plan.” The conclusion discusses the main implications arising from this study.

Chapter 6 outlines how the existence of the Love Jones Cohort offers a fresh lens with which to explore the lifestyle characteristics of the Black middle class. Earlier research on the Black middle class – who have often been equated with married-couple families – asserts that they face the ongoing problem of having to stabilize their class position. This can take on one or more forms, including developing and exemplifying behavior patterns and lifestyles appropriate to the middle class. Chapter 6 unpacks the lifestyle strategies and attributes of the Love Jones Cohort and examines how the decision to not marry and instead continue to live alone may impact such attempts to stabilize their class position. Chapter 6 emphasizes that own space and life, freedom, and self-reliance emerge as central aspects of the Cohort lifestyle, as well as situational loneliness. The Cohort places a great emphasis on the human interaction and companionship provided by family, friends, and social networks and discusses how the pressures emanating from family and friends help shape their lifestyles and navigate the ebbs and flows that arise.

Chapter 10 examines the public health literature and research on well-being that suggests that being Black and middle class in America does not equate to overall positive health outcomes, due largely to prolonged exposure to racism. Chapter 10 investigates how being Black, middle class, and SALA impacts the health and well-being of the Love Jones Cohort and what coping mechanisms they employ to deal with the challenges they face. Chapter 10 reports that some Cohort members experience situational depression, situational anxiety, or situational loneliness usually stemming from feelings of stress, overwork, and frustration at their financial situations and/or jobs. Moreover, a good number of Cohort members report that their families – despite occasional negative feelings of obligation and responsibility toward them – serve as sources of support, guidance, and love. Many also emphasize the importance of close friendships and augmented families in maintaining well-being and providing a coping mechanism during times of high stress and anxiety.

In January 2011, the inaugural show of Piers Morgan Tonight aired on CNN. On the third day of the new show, the guest was Professor Condoleezza Rice, the 66th United States Secretary of State serving from 2005 to 2009. She was the first Black female Secretary of State and the second never-married secretary (the first was James Buchanan, who served from 1845 to 1849). While this may not have been common knowledge to some people prior to May 16, 2014, that might have changed by the next morning. For the Jeopardy! viewers watching the last day of the Battle of the Decade with a million dollars on the line, the Final Jeopardy category was “Secretaries of State,” and the question was, “Serving 160 years apart, these 2 Secretaries of State are the only ones who never married.” The answer: “Who are James Buchanan and Condoleezza Rice?”1 While some might be amused by such trivia, others could be annoyed that of all the accomplishments of Professor Rice, her never-married status is what is highlighted on a Jeopardy! question.

Chapter 3 addresses how those in the Love Jones Cohort discuss being Black and middle class, and how the growth of the Black middle class is causing a growing divide between the haves and the have-nots in the Black community. Chapter 3 explains that the tension engendered by this divide takes the form of expressing a degree of responsibility to the larger Black community. Cohort members discussed how gender is a central component of how they experience being Black and middle class. The Cohort were hesitant about explicitly incorporating their SALA status/lifestyle as a key aspect of how they perceived being Black and middle class. Instead, the impact of their SALA lifestyle on their middle-class status was made explicit in their discussions of their lifestyles, wealth decisions etc.