14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists discovered in a new study that people aged over 50 tend to be happier, and also less stressed out, than younger individuals. The differences are clearly visible when comparing seniors with those in their 20s, the researchers say. It would appear that older age indeed makes things look brighter, and that it also makes people see the good side of life more often than not. Young adults are on the other hand much more stressed, and they tend to see the dark side of things. The investigation was conducted in 2008 on about 340,000 Americans, by the Gallup organization. Respondents were interviewed via telephone, LiveScience reports.
The correlation remained in place even after the investigators accounted for a variety of other factors that may have influenced the results. Some of these influences included employment status, the number of children, relationship status, and other socioeconomic factors. These elements are known to contribute to the overall level of happiness later in life, scientists explain. They add that no clear relation was found between marriage and children, on one side, and the level of happiness, on the other. Therefore, they say, additional investigations are required in order to accurately pinpoint the triggers that make seniors happier than younger adults.
“That can be based on social things, on societal things, on biological things; and for us that is the big question,” says Stony Brook university psychologist Arthur Stone, who was also a member of the team that conducted the study. The new data seem to fit nicely with previous works, that suggest well-being and happiness levels vary in close relationship with age. What makes this particular paper stand out is the fact that it accounted for two types of happiness – global well-being (a measure of overall happiness) and hedonic well-being (the number daily experiences such as stress and happiness). The former makes people look at life more reflectively, Stone reveals, whereas the latter gives people a more immediate look at things.
“Looking at well-being really needs to be multidimensional and more comprehensive than might be suggested by the current literature,” the expert adds. In a paper published in this week's issue of the esteemed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), he and his team determined that the amount of stress, anger and worrying that people experience generally remain steady until the age of 50. After this age, they tend to drop, making room for warmer feelings.