| | Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals | |
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KK
Location : New York Super Powers : poastwhore Number of posts : 8316 pennies : 7853 Rep : 354
| Subject: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Tue May 18, 2010 10:14 am | |
| Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Life looks a little rosier after 50, a new study finds. Older people in their mid- to late-50s are generally happier, and experience less stress and worry than young adults in their 20s, the researchers say.
The results, based on a Gallup phone survey from 2008 of more than 340,000 Americans, held even after the researchers accounted for factors that could have contributed to differences in well-being with age, such as whether the participants were married, had children at home or were employed.
So if having a partner and getting rid of the kids aren't responsible for the uptick in happiness and general life satisfaction with age, then what is? More studies will be needed to find out, the researchers say.
"That can be based on social things, on societal things, on biological things; and for us that is the big question," study researcher Arthur Stone, a psychologist at Stony Brook University in N.Y.
Two ways to look at life
The findings agree with previous work showing well-being varies with age. And some studies have narrowed things down to suggest that happiness comes with being old, male and Republican.
However, the current work included measures of both overall happiness (called global well-being) and day-to-day experiences of specific feelings such as stress and happiness (called hedonic well-being).
These two measures of well-being are rarely included in the same study, Stone said. But they are both important, since global well-being provides a more reflective look at life while hedonic well-being gives a more immediate view, he said.
The immediate, hedonic measures - happiness, enjoyment, stress, worry, anger and sadness - all changed with age, but they showed very different patterns. For example, stress and anger steadily decreased from young adulthood through old age. But worry was fairly constant until age 50, when it declined. Sadness levels rose slightly in the early 40s and declined in the mid 50s, but overall sadness didn't change much with age.
And people's overall satisfaction with their lives showed a U-shaped pattern, dipping down until about the age of 50 before trending upward again.
Men and women showed very similar patterns in terms of how well-being changed with age, though women tended to have higher levels of stress, worry and sadness. However, women had about the same levels of happiness as men and tended to feel better overall about their lives, especially during the first 50 years.
The results emphasize the importance of looking at hedonic well-being since these feelings, particularly the negative ones, don't all vary the same way as we age, Stone said.
"Looking at well-being really needs to be multidimensional and more comprehensive than might be suggested by the current literature," he said.
Why are older people happier?
There are several theories that might explain why people feel better with age that don't have to do with lifestyle factors. It could be, for example, that older people are better at controlling their emotions than younger people. Or it might have something to do with nostalgia, the idea that older people remember fewer negative memories and so are happier.
Also, older people might focus less on what they have or have not achieved, and more on how to get the most out of the rest of their lives, Stone said. | |
| | | c/thru
Blurts : What is this decade called ? Location : almost Mile High Hobbies : Freedom Tracker Humor : floating under a delicate layer of apathy Super Powers : can turn water into ice Number of posts : 3049 pennies : 3303 Rep : 123
| | | | Edelweiss
Location : in total denial Humor : yes Number of posts : 405 pennies : 536 Rep : 65
| | | | KK
Location : New York Super Powers : poastwhore Number of posts : 8316 pennies : 7853 Rep : 354
| | | | KK
Location : New York Super Powers : poastwhore Number of posts : 8316 pennies : 7853 Rep : 354
| | | | Joebert
Age : 63 Location : @ Computer Hobbies : Sleep/Photography Humor : Seinfeld (show) has it all! Super Powers : Faster than a speeding bulet...is that bad? Number of posts : 3905 pennies : 3262 Rep : 97
| Subject: Re: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Wed May 19, 2010 2:06 am | |
| I'm happy about one thing...I'll never be 20 and looking for a job and working the next 30/40 years. | |
| | | KK
Location : New York Super Powers : poastwhore Number of posts : 8316 pennies : 7853 Rep : 354
| Subject: Re: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Wed May 19, 2010 10:03 am | |
| - Joebert wrote:
- I'm happy about one thing...I'll never be 20 and looking for a job and working the next 30/40 years.
it's tough out there right now | |
| | | Joebert
Age : 63 Location : @ Computer Hobbies : Sleep/Photography Humor : Seinfeld (show) has it all! Super Powers : Faster than a speeding bulet...is that bad? Number of posts : 3905 pennies : 3262 Rep : 97
| Subject: Re: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Mon May 24, 2010 2:18 am | |
| - KK wrote:
- Joebert wrote:
- I'm happy about one thing...I'll never be 20 and looking for a job and working the next 30/40 years.
it's tough out there right now I can only guess how bad. But I had a friend that just went back to work in this area, Worked steady for at least 30+ years and when they stopped building houses he didn't have a full time job. Things have been picking up here a little but it would be hard for a young person just out of college to find job. | |
| | | KK
Location : New York Super Powers : poastwhore Number of posts : 8316 pennies : 7853 Rep : 354
| Subject: Re: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Mon May 24, 2010 9:22 pm | |
| - Joebert wrote:
- KK wrote:
- Joebert wrote:
- I'm happy about one thing...I'll never be 20 and looking for a job and working the next 30/40 years.
it's tough out there right now I can only guess how bad. But I had a friend that just went back to work in this area, Worked steady for at least 30+ years and when they stopped building houses he didn't have a full time job. Things have been picking up here a little but it would be hard for a young person just out of college to find job. a girl who is temping for us graduated last year. all 200 in her class didn't have a job prospect at graduation | |
| | | Joebert
Age : 63 Location : @ Computer Hobbies : Sleep/Photography Humor : Seinfeld (show) has it all! Super Powers : Faster than a speeding bulet...is that bad? Number of posts : 3905 pennies : 3262 Rep : 97
| Subject: Re: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Sun May 30, 2010 5:52 pm | |
| - KK wrote:
- Joebert wrote:
- KK wrote:
- Joebert wrote:
- I'm happy about one thing...I'll never be 20 and looking for a job and working the next 30/40 years.
it's tough out there right now I can only guess how bad. But I had a friend that just went back to work in this area, Worked steady for at least 30+ years and when they stopped building houses he didn't have a full time job. Things have been picking up here a little but it would be hard for a young person just out of college to find job. a girl who is temping for us graduated last year. all 200 in her class didn't have a job prospect at graduation I believe it. You better be open to working at what you can get and maybe a couple jobs. | |
| | | KK
Location : New York Super Powers : poastwhore Number of posts : 8316 pennies : 7853 Rep : 354
| Subject: Re: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Sun May 30, 2010 10:12 pm | |
| I believe it. You better be open to working at what you can get and maybe a couple jobs.[/quote]
thatk god for the stimulus | |
| | | Joebert
Age : 63 Location : @ Computer Hobbies : Sleep/Photography Humor : Seinfeld (show) has it all! Super Powers : Faster than a speeding bulet...is that bad? Number of posts : 3905 pennies : 3262 Rep : 97
| Subject: Re: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Tue Jun 01, 2010 3:24 am | |
| - KK wrote:
- I believe it. You better be open to working at what you can get and maybe a couple jobs.
thatk god for the stimulus[/quote] Stimulus, taking you money and then spreading it around...oh yaeh that's a great idea. I have an idea, why don;t they spend less and take less and give us more to spend...duh. | |
| | | KK
Location : New York Super Powers : poastwhore Number of posts : 8316 pennies : 7853 Rep : 354
| Subject: Re: Happiness Comes With Age, Study Reveals Tue Jun 01, 2010 8:25 pm | |
| cutting spending is the only way to get us back on track. let's start will al funding to illegals | |
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