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Aging Bonus: Increased Happiness
June 14, 2006 -- Greater happiness may be a perk of agingaging that often gets overlooked, a new study shows.
The study, published in June's Journal of Happiness Studies, comes from Heather Pond Lacey, PhD, and colleagues. Lacey works at the University of Michigan's Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine.
Lacey's team conducted an online survey of 273 people aged 21-40 and 269 people aged 60-86. In the survey, participants rated their current happiness on a 10-point scale.
Participants also estimated how happy they would be (or had been, depending on their current age) at 30 and 70, and how happy they thought people generally are at age 30 and 70.
Who's Happiest?
The older group had higher happiness ratings in the survey than the younger group.
However, the survey also showed that both groups expected happiness to decline with age. For instance, both groups claimed that the average person is happier at age 30 than age 70.
Older participants reported having been happier at age 30 than they had been or expected to be at age 70. Younger participants predicted that happiness would dip with age for the average person, but not themselves.
Lacey and colleagues didn't track participants over time, so there is no way to know who became happier or not over the years.
However, other studies have also shown higher happiness ratings for older people than for younger adults. It's possible that people misremember how happy they were in the past, putting their rose-colored glasses on as they reflect on bygone years, notes Lacey's team.
Older and Happier
If you don't buy the idea that happiness tends to grow with age, Lacey and colleagues understand.
"Despite the mounting evidence that happiness does not decline with age, some may view this effect with understandable skepticism," they write.
"After all, old age is associated with real deterioration of circumstances, including failing health and diminishing financial resources, as well as the onset of widowhood and other social losses. ... So the question remains, given the difficulties of old age, why don't people become less happy as they get older?"
Lacey's team answers that question with other experts' theories:
- People may get better at handling challenges as they age.
- Older adults may tend to play up the positive and minimize the negative.
- Over the years, people may lower or change their goals, making success and happiness more likely.
The study's results might not apply to everyone, Lacey and colleagues acknowledge. For instance, they note that because the survey was conducted online, it might have attracted older participants who don't represent everyone in their age group.
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