Here you go, OP (full-access preprint here). There’s no need to get anecdotal about this; it’s a very well-studied question in psychology, sociology, and economics. The U-shape has extensive evidence supporting it. If “have you gotten progressively less happy as you age?” were the prompt here, I wouldn’t be doing this, but you asked a general question that can be and has been answered empirically over and over.
They’ve also often got lower stress levels, higher wealth and/or more time than people in their thirties to fifties do. I’d be really interested if they’re also happier than their middle aged counterparts in countries where the elderly are disconnected from their communities and not financially supported.
Edit: it’s true around the world, but I’m not sure if it’s true in every country or just generally yet
The question is, if this is correlation or causation. Maybe some people just do less things, that make them happy as they age? Doesn’t mean that you are gonna be unhappy.
Also, this is an average and I imagine, that there is a very high variance among different people. A lot of people may very well get progressively, happier as they age.
I would say, that happiness comes very much down to how you live your life, how you view the world and what you do.
If you have a job, that makes you happy and good relationships and stuff like that, you are probably gonna be happy regardless of your age.
I don’t know about others, but as I grow older and realise I have progressively less time left, I grow less patient of other people’s bullshit. Some people may consider it a symptom of diminished happiness, but it’s more a degradation of my social filters.
I would say it depends on your ability to live your life in a way that makes you happy. It’s a kind of nothing answer, but human experience largely boils down to ability to self determine internally and externally.
It’s true, suicidal people have a strange phenomenon where they seem happy for a short time, because they know they don’t have to worry about their lives anymore, just before they take them
I’m in my 70’s. I feel I’ve been getting happier over time. Kids grow up and leave, Work becomes stable. Finances become more stable. When you retire, it’s like a whole new life (as long as you plan it correctly).
The older i got, the happier i became. Despite physical aches and decline.
Mentally, i’m much stronger now. And i don’t care should people not really like me, or have whatever opinions about me.
Also, being kind to others makes you happier.
I am not. My life is progressively happier since my early 20s and really starting getting better at 35+ when I started focusing on myself and excluding more friends/partners who were dragging me down.
But everyone around me is getting more miserable, old or young. And I hate it and I hate them for it.
Increasingly I just detest socialization, because all it is is me listening to other people complain, and them telling I’m a jerk for being happy when the aren’t. All weekend I had to listen to people whine about their bodies, whine about their kids/spouses, and then brag about how rich they are and then lecture me how ignorant and stupid I am for not being as rich as they are.
I feel you. I have felt myself become more capable as I age. I used to fantasize over having a redo of my youth and young adult years but I’m happy with who I am and what I have become. We aren’t rich, but we love each other and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
My unhappiness peaked in highschool. Although current events have me closer to that level than I’ve been in a long time. Having friends that don’t suck now helps a lot.
Yes, the hardest part of my life was 14-20 or so. only halfway through college did things start to improve.
And the biggest component was the people around me being awful. Currently I’ve having another dip in my life… and it’s all due to the people around me again. I feel like I’m going backwards to high school in terms of people surrounded by provincial small-minded and nasty people. I miss being around open-minded folks.
I won’t. People in my area are only getting richer and richer and more bitter about how they aren’t even more rich than they already are. I live in one of the most expensive zip codes in the USA.
if you’re from a loving, supportive family: Yes for a time you can get unhappy as you age. You get more and more responsibilities. And by Responsibilities I mean you are expected to do things without praise. Like taking care of yourself and then a family. No one claps for you getting groceries or taking out the garbage. (Though if your in an abusing family this is very different : you can get happier as you get closer to the age to escape)
Then, once you adapt to this and you become self reliant for approval, it gets easier. You get happier in more self sustaining ways in which you get hobbies. Embrace the freedom of choices.
Then one day responsibilities get lighter. Like maybe someone who’s been very reliant on you develops their own independence and leaves.
And then you’re even more happier than ever. Happy for them. You helped get them there and grow. Also happy for yourself as you get more free time to do stuff for you.
Like imagine being that person you wanted to grow up to be as child with no parents or other responsibilities to stop you from doing things you wanted to do. And the best thing: you have the confidence and life story to know you’re entirely capable now.
That’s if you’re doing this self development thing right.
I’ve known ppl who don’t ever develop personal acceptance and end up in earlier life cycles of constant dependencies on others around them and bouncing back into depression. constantly reliving a specific age: like remarriage / recapture a prom night experience / doing something just to get dad approval like that’s the happiest they ever could be. And it always includes seeking approval. Someone else has to be a centric piece to their happiness. Someone else always has to act a part.
Tldr: Look after your mental health. Roll the hard six. Sometimes discomfort is growth. If this is something you can’t live with: talk to a professional to help you get there cuz this is part of being human and your brain will trick you into doing some meaningless, wasteful shit if you don’t trick it first.
People born in the late 90s onward sure do, we get to see every expected milestone dissapear under a pile of enshitification and vanishing wages/opportunities as people who increasingly seem like disney villains do their best to make everything even worse.
I feel you. I’m a child of the early eighties and my adult experiences have made me jaded as hell with debilitating trust issues. I’ve just about given up on anything improving.
Very much no, it’s easier to be happy when you’re older if you do the work to be happy in general. Being happy and naive to your surroundings isn’t the same as being aware of your situation and confident in yourself.
This is a difficult question to answer in a generic sense because right now there are a lot of external factors that are progressively making people unhappier and it’s not really to do with age.
Until the current generation, happiness was generally a u-shaped curve, with happiness going down around their early 20’s and coming back up around the 60’s.
I’m 55 and can honestly say I am more happy today then I have ever been in the past, not because of money or lots of friends but because I have learned a lot about myself in the last 10 years.
Depends on how you look at it. As you age and go through experiences, things won’t quite affect you to the same extremes as they did when you were younger. I suppose because you lose those high points, it could be seen as sadder. But you also don’t deal with the lows as terribly, and that’s a blessing. It’s also much more peaceful. To me, it’s just different.
It’s less about age and more about our ability to take care of our responsibilities. As children, we have few, and taking care of them takes little time and is easy. As we grow we get more and more, and if our abilities don’t grow in tandem we become stressed and unhappy. It’s easy to find yourself in a situation as a young adult where you have lots of responsibilities and not enough time, money, and training to discharge all of them. Similarly in middle age if you haven’t kept upskilling and you find yourself outclassed professionally by younger professionals.
Some ways to fight this are by keeping your lifestyle simple and inexpensive; by constantly seeking to improve; by being parsimonious with your social commitments; and by building a network of mutually supportive friends and colleagues who can help you during sudden spikes of need or sudden dropoffs in ability, such as unexpected illness.
I’ve reached the idgaf phase where most things I was worried about when younger are just irrelevant. As for being happier, my life is better, but my mental health has declined. I don’t think that is necessarily age-related. Or maybe I just don’t have the energy to cope with it anymore.
No, for most people there is a low point in their midlife somewhere, then progressively happier once past that.
I’ve never been as unhappy as an adult, as I was when a child. My least happy adult time was my 30s, and from there it’s been all upward. I’m sure once I am old old there will be health shit to worry about, but for now it’s easier to be happy than it was before, and I have seen research showing that is typical.
I wonder how the happiness in old age is seperated by wealth. like those on public assitance in homes compared to those with enough wealth to stay in their homes till death.
I thought I saw something about income increasing happiness but only up to a certain level (and then saw more studies that disagreed), i always thought it’s probably more correlated in Western countries where status and income are almost synonymous.
We present evidence that psychological well-being is U-shaped through life. A difficulty with research on this issue is that there are likely to be omitted cohort effects (earlier generations may have been born in, say, particularly good or bad times). First, using data on 500,000 randomly sampled Americans and West Europeans, the paper designs a test that can control for cohort effects. Holding other factors constant, we show that a typical individual’s happiness reaches its minimum - on both sides of the Atlantic and for both males and females - in middle age. Second, evidence is provided for the existence of a similar U-shape through the life-course in East European, Latin American and Asian nations. Third, a U-shape in age is found in separate well-being regression equations in 72 developed and developing nations. Fourth, using measures that are closer to psychiatric scores, we document a comparable well-being curve across the life cycle in 2 other data sets (1) in GHQ-N6 mental health levels among a sample of 16,000 Europeans, and (2) in reported depression-and-anxiety levels among 1 million UK citizens. Fifth, we discuss some apparent exceptions, particularly in developing nations, to the U-shape. Sixth, we note that American male birth-cohorts seem to have become progressively less content with their lives. Our results are based on regression equations in which other influences, such as demographic variables and income, are held constant.
I dont’ think its status as much as a decent basic necessitites thing along with security. If you have the money to live in a decent, clean, healthy environment with food and knowing health needs or such will be met and then further know that will be the case until you die. Then its much easier to be happy. I get the studies though but im always suspect. Like how much of the U is specific to a sorta point in time and is it eroding for people getting to those ages.
certainly. Im in a zero disposable income situation and it drives me crazy the little things I have to forgo that while not strictly necessary are niceties or conveniences.
No, there is a well-studied and objective answer to this general question. Even though people will vary, there’s a crystal-clear trend that’s been studied over and over again as a perennial question in psychology, sociology, and economics. We don’t have to base any of this on vibes, and arguably a question with a definitive answer like this doesn’t belong here.
A large empirical literature has debated the existence of a U-shaped happiness-age curve. This paper re-examines the relationship between various measures of well-being and age in 145 countries, including 109 developing countries, controlling for education and marital and labor force status, among others, on samples of individuals under the age of 70. The U-shape of the curve is forcefully confirmed, with an age minimum, or nadir, in midlife around age 50 in separate analyses for developing and advanced countries as well as for the continent of Africa. The happiness curve seems to be everywhere. While panel data are largely unavailable for this issue, and the findings using such data largely confirm the cross-section results, the paper discusses insights on why cohort effects do not drive the findings. I find the age of the minima has risen over time in Europe and the USA.
There are many people who never find a moment of peace in their lives and may become more vocal as they age. For most people, in my observation, there comes a point where they move past their easier life and live with a sense of peace or accomplishment.
Not necessarily, but for the last couple decades the world has been getting progressively shittier, so it might feel that way, especially when you have chronic depression due to the world getting progressively shittier.
(Also the people you care about get older and sicker, and will eventually die, and you can’t really do much about that, which isn’t particularly fun either. It all builds up into the chronic depression.)
I did not have a very happy childhood but it improved in high school and college. Late college and working world sucked but got a job in a nice place and it went up but it paid low so had this anxiety about the long term. then it became a slog and now everything has collapsed. So for me personally. Kinda? There was this idea of work hard and sacrifice to get ahead but it did not really pan out and I kinda wonder if taking drugs and living for the day might have been the better way to go.
Cult upbringing aside, I had a good and loving family. They were genuinely doing the best with what they knew. I’ll never fault them for that.
All my real damage came from being an adult, in a world that was radically more dangerous and difficult than my sheltered upbringing prepared me for. And that damage is cumulative. We just gather more of it as we survive more shit through the decades.
Another lemming posted some data already but I guess, intuitively, it makes sense: no responsibilities and usually taken care of -> some responsibilities without the PFC/maturity necessary to handle them efficiently but you still somewhat prioritise and have time for fun-> even larger responsibilities (usually caring for other people as well, like children and parents) but with enough maturity to handle them without needing to focus on youthful hedonism -> fewer responsibilities but still mature and now probably in a better financial position, and you can already be satisfied with your lot in life and what you’ve done with it -> little to no responsibilities and you’re usually taken care of.
It can be a factor for some. Personally, I think I’m happier now overall than I was a couple of decades ago. Not to say I don’t get cranky and irritable sometimes, because that definitely happens. Maybe moreso now. But I think that’s because I just don’t have the tolerance for nonsense.
But I’m fairly content with life. And my attitude towards people who have different lifestyle to me had mellowed out, because life’s too short. I think that has helped with my overall happiness quite a lot.
I’d be even happier if the wider world wasn’t going to shit. But eh, it is what it is.
There isn’t a universal answer, I expect it depends a lot on your worldview and whether you got past your hangups earlier in life, and what your health, regrets and living situation are. I have anecdotal evidence both ways.
Not in my case - I’m 73 and despite physical challenges I’m happier than I’ve ever been. What makes me happy is having wonderful friends, plenty of interests and all my marbles.
I look back on my anxious 20-something self with pity. Why was I so bloody worried what everyone would think of me?
I think there may be something to brain chemistry and physical make-up changing over time, but I’d argue that for most people happiness is environmental.
You will get it if you live as long as I have. It is bittersweet as you got to experience their love and then lose them. The number of people you lose invariably grows exponentially the older you are.
Not necessarily. I’ve been getting happier and happier over time, even despite the world getting shittier. Of course there still are problems, but I’m fairly sure i can fix those over time as well.
Though that might be more from that my childhood wasn’t that great, not the worst physical abuse either, but not a normal one either with a dash of psychological and emotional abuse and minimal support, only what’s required by the law.
So getting older, getting nore comfortable within my body and figuring myself out, stuff which usually is done in childhood and teenage years in a safe and supportive environment, has been helpful in making life more comfortable and having more control over my own life, which ultimately allowes me to make life more comfortable for myself and become happier.
Mostly, yes. The following is obviously a generalization.
Children are in a state of growth, so they heal quickly, in a state of care, so their needs/wants are usually met without effort, and in a state of ignorance, so they often aren’t aware of all the awful things they are surrounded by.
Adolescents are still in a state of growth, but it’s unstable, meaning they can feel awkward. They are in a state of semi-care, so many of their needs are cared for, but not all, and certainly not all of their wants. And they are often coming to realise the horrors of the world which were hidden before. They see and begin to comprehend death, tragedy, human cruelty and frailty, etc. though the concepts are usually distant.
Adults are worse off still. They get hurt and it’s permanent because the only growth they get to experience is cancer. They are expected to care for themselves almost completely, with little support entitlement. And they become not only aware of death and tragedy but correctly expectant that it will come for them. And they often then have kids, which means they have to provide the child’s full care on top of, and even in place of, their own. If they didn’t fall in love with the kids, they’d probably commit some combination of murder and/or suicide to escape them.
The elderly round things off. They are in near constant pain from all the damage done to their bodies. They are still expected to mostly care for themselves, or have saved up enough money/obligation to carry them through to the end as their bodies crumble. They are very aware of their impending doom as they watch friends, family, and personal heroes die around them. If they are wise, they are painfully aware of the foolish mistakes of those around them and have to watch their loved ones walk into the same holes into which they walked and from which they climbed years ago, and have all the experience to understand a world that has changed by the time they understand it. If they have children, they teeter between having to care for them and needing to be cared for by them. If not, they are forced to be still selfreliant as their ability to be so disintegrates.
And then there are the dying. It’s usually a painful process. That’s gotta suck.
Anyone can find happiness with their lot in life, no one truly understands why some of the worst experiences lewd to positive outcomes, but the typical result is misery.
As you age you have more experiences to compare reality to. Many of those experiences wouldn’t be a recognizable experience to the other people that shared that time and space. We create our own reality in our minds that usually is shared in a comprehensive enough way to recognize and agree with, but each person’s experience and interpretation of that shared experience is their own.
Whether crows are wonderful exciting and creature to behold, or dive bombing poop monsters waiting to target you is your own mind interpreting what you see.
These experiences shape how you look at the world and you repeat many of them in some ways reinforcing the held interpretation of it
Its a very easy to find pattern in historical records that older people(generationally) see the new world that has been shaped by younger people is harder to understand. And while some people do find this exciting and energizing, most people will find it a burden or a corruption of what they understand.
Things change. Viva mutator, non tolitur.(I don’t know if this is a real quote but I always remember it from some fiction book I read that explained this translated “latin” phrase as life is changed, not ended)
How you can enjoy your life while living through some of the worst experiences or on going conditions is beyond my understanding, but you won’t stop finding people that are amazingly happy in spite of this. Maybe a very small amount but you won’t ever stop finding more if you put enough time in.
I mean I didn’t start feeling any form of happiness starting from probably my teen years till I started going to therapy last year (I’m 30). Even now it’s mostly fleeting and half the time I feel like I’m just masking when I’m around others.
I think that you have a lot of agency over how you live your life and what you do, which has a huge impact on your happiness.
There is no general answer here, just try to do more things that you know are good for you and make you happy. Eat healthier, stay reasonably fit, get a good and consistent sleep cycle (this has a huge hormonal impact on your happiness). Enjoy good art, make meaningful connections, if you are angry about the state of the world, try to revolt.
Every miserable person I know endlessly complaints how they don’t have control over things. Even when they do. They just convince themselves that have no other choices and their misery becomes their identity.
PieFed
Here you go, OP (full-access preprint here). There’s no need to get anecdotal about this; it’s a very well-studied question in psychology, sociology, and economics. The U-shape has extensive evidence supporting it. If “have you gotten progressively less happy as you age?” were the prompt here, I wouldn’t be doing this, but you asked a general question that can be and has been answered empirically over and over.
From Tech’s Link…
You missed a call
Hell yeah
So, it can get better, but rarely if ever does it compare to the blithe joys of youth.
I do wonder if this upturn is related to cognitive decline, and therefore ties into the old “ignorance is bliss” adage, then.
Hell, maybe that has something to do with old folks enjoying reruns: it reminds them of their life, then and now. 🤔😅
They’ve also often got lower stress levels, higher wealth and/or more time than people in their thirties to fifties do. I’d be really interested if they’re also happier than their middle aged counterparts in countries where the elderly are disconnected from their communities and not financially supported.
Edit: it’s true around the world, but I’m not sure if it’s true in every country or just generally yet
And, when younger, expenses were less likely to be their responsibility, ergo “more wealth”, et al, in youth as well. 🤓
The question is, if this is correlation or causation. Maybe some people just do less things, that make them happy as they age? Doesn’t mean that you are gonna be unhappy.
Also, this is an average and I imagine, that there is a very high variance among different people. A lot of people may very well get progressively, happier as they age.
I would say, that happiness comes very much down to how you live your life, how you view the world and what you do.
If you have a job, that makes you happy and good relationships and stuff like that, you are probably gonna be happy regardless of your age.
There are peaks and valleys. I’ve been happier, but I’ve been more miserable.
My heart says no but the micro plastic in my brain says yes.
I don’t know about others, but as I grow older and realise I have progressively less time left, I grow less patient of other people’s bullshit. Some people may consider it a symptom of diminished happiness, but it’s more a degradation of my social filters.
I would say it depends on your ability to live your life in a way that makes you happy. It’s a kind of nothing answer, but human experience largely boils down to ability to self determine internally and externally.
the older you get, the more health problems you have, and let me tell you, health problems can make you involuntarily unhappy.
Happiness is an U curve according to some research.
As death approaches, happiness increases.
It’s true, suicidal people have a strange phenomenon where they seem happy for a short time, because they know they don’t have to worry about their lives anymore, just before they take them
That was 13 years ago, I’m also curious how much that relates to world events vs age
Im my case was the opposite; the farthest I get from my abusive and narcissists parents the happier I get…
Under late-stage capitalism, yes.
I’m in my 70’s. I feel I’ve been getting happier over time. Kids grow up and leave, Work becomes stable. Finances become more stable. When you retire, it’s like a whole new life (as long as you plan it correctly).
The older i got, the happier i became. Despite physical aches and decline. Mentally, i’m much stronger now. And i don’t care should people not really like me, or have whatever opinions about me. Also, being kind to others makes you happier.
I am not. My life is progressively happier since my early 20s and really starting getting better at 35+ when I started focusing on myself and excluding more friends/partners who were dragging me down.
But everyone around me is getting more miserable, old or young. And I hate it and I hate them for it.
Increasingly I just detest socialization, because all it is is me listening to other people complain, and them telling I’m a jerk for being happy when the aren’t. All weekend I had to listen to people whine about their bodies, whine about their kids/spouses, and then brag about how rich they are and then lecture me how ignorant and stupid I am for not being as rich as they are.
I feel you. I have felt myself become more capable as I age. I used to fantasize over having a redo of my youth and young adult years but I’m happy with who I am and what I have become. We aren’t rich, but we love each other and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
Jeez man, sounds like more pruning of people is needed.
My unhappiness peaked in highschool. Although current events have me closer to that level than I’ve been in a long time. Having friends that don’t suck now helps a lot.
Yes, the hardest part of my life was 14-20 or so. only halfway through college did things start to improve.
And the biggest component was the people around me being awful. Currently I’ve having another dip in my life… and it’s all due to the people around me again. I feel like I’m going backwards to high school in terms of people surrounded by provincial small-minded and nasty people. I miss being around open-minded folks.
I hope you find some better people to be around.
I won’t. People in my area are only getting richer and richer and more bitter about how they aren’t even more rich than they already are. I live in one of the most expensive zip codes in the USA.
if you’re from a loving, supportive family: Yes for a time you can get unhappy as you age. You get more and more responsibilities. And by Responsibilities I mean you are expected to do things without praise. Like taking care of yourself and then a family. No one claps for you getting groceries or taking out the garbage. (Though if your in an abusing family this is very different : you can get happier as you get closer to the age to escape)
Then, once you adapt to this and you become self reliant for approval, it gets easier. You get happier in more self sustaining ways in which you get hobbies. Embrace the freedom of choices.
Then one day responsibilities get lighter. Like maybe someone who’s been very reliant on you develops their own independence and leaves.
And then you’re even more happier than ever. Happy for them. You helped get them there and grow. Also happy for yourself as you get more free time to do stuff for you.
Like imagine being that person you wanted to grow up to be as child with no parents or other responsibilities to stop you from doing things you wanted to do. And the best thing: you have the confidence and life story to know you’re entirely capable now.
That’s if you’re doing this self development thing right.
I’ve known ppl who don’t ever develop personal acceptance and end up in earlier life cycles of constant dependencies on others around them and bouncing back into depression. constantly reliving a specific age: like remarriage / recapture a prom night experience / doing something just to get dad approval like that’s the happiest they ever could be. And it always includes seeking approval. Someone else has to be a centric piece to their happiness. Someone else always has to act a part.
Tldr: Look after your mental health. Roll the hard six. Sometimes discomfort is growth. If this is something you can’t live with: talk to a professional to help you get there cuz this is part of being human and your brain will trick you into doing some meaningless, wasteful shit if you don’t trick it first.
People born in the late 90s onward sure do, we get to see every expected milestone dissapear under a pile of enshitification and vanishing wages/opportunities as people who increasingly seem like disney villains do their best to make everything even worse.
I feel you. I’m a child of the early eighties and my adult experiences have made me jaded as hell with debilitating trust issues. I’ve just about given up on anything improving.
Very much no, it’s easier to be happy when you’re older if you do the work to be happy in general. Being happy and naive to your surroundings isn’t the same as being aware of your situation and confident in yourself.
Idk, am 43 and more happy with each year that goes by
🌻
I don’t even know what happiness is at this point. I am, however, at peace.
I’m getting progressively more happy I think
This is a difficult question to answer in a generic sense because right now there are a lot of external factors that are progressively making people unhappier and it’s not really to do with age.
Until the current generation, happiness was generally a u-shaped curve, with happiness going down around their early 20’s and coming back up around the 60’s.
Gen Alpha doesn’t seem to have a happy childhood.
In some regions, yes. But not everywhere. They mostly seem happy to me
For parts of the world with data going back to boomers and earlier, there is a quantitative slide.
I’m 55 and can honestly say I am more happy today then I have ever been in the past, not because of money or lots of friends but because I have learned a lot about myself in the last 10 years.
Depends on how you look at it. As you age and go through experiences, things won’t quite affect you to the same extremes as they did when you were younger. I suppose because you lose those high points, it could be seen as sadder. But you also don’t deal with the lows as terribly, and that’s a blessing. It’s also much more peaceful. To me, it’s just different.
It’s less about age and more about our ability to take care of our responsibilities. As children, we have few, and taking care of them takes little time and is easy. As we grow we get more and more, and if our abilities don’t grow in tandem we become stressed and unhappy. It’s easy to find yourself in a situation as a young adult where you have lots of responsibilities and not enough time, money, and training to discharge all of them. Similarly in middle age if you haven’t kept upskilling and you find yourself outclassed professionally by younger professionals.
Some ways to fight this are by keeping your lifestyle simple and inexpensive; by constantly seeking to improve; by being parsimonious with your social commitments; and by building a network of mutually supportive friends and colleagues who can help you during sudden spikes of need or sudden dropoffs in ability, such as unexpected illness.
I’ve become progressively more apathetic as I’ve aged. The highs aren’t as high, but the lows aren’t as low either.
Aged 32, finding each year more enjoyable as I grow into a career and have more disposable income
I’ve reached the idgaf phase where most things I was worried about when younger are just irrelevant. As for being happier, my life is better, but my mental health has declined. I don’t think that is necessarily age-related. Or maybe I just don’t have the energy to cope with it anymore.
In general, yes.
From my anecdotal perspective, it seems to me like lots of people around me stopped prioritizing their own interests and needs in their late 20s.
I did not.
I enjoy the life I’ve built.
They, apparently, do not.
YMMV
No, for most people there is a low point in their midlife somewhere, then progressively happier once past that.
I’ve never been as unhappy as an adult, as I was when a child. My least happy adult time was my 30s, and from there it’s been all upward. I’m sure once I am old old there will be health shit to worry about, but for now it’s easier to be happy than it was before, and I have seen research showing that is typical.
This study https://www.spring.org.uk/2024/12/age-most-depressed.php shows people getting more miserable towards middle age, then getting happier. The happiness graph makes a smile shape of course.
I wonder how the happiness in old age is seperated by wealth. like those on public assitance in homes compared to those with enough wealth to stay in their homes till death.
I thought I saw something about income increasing happiness but only up to a certain level (and then saw more studies that disagreed), i always thought it’s probably more correlated in Western countries where status and income are almost synonymous.
We present evidence that psychological well-being is U-shaped through life. A difficulty with research on this issue is that there are likely to be omitted cohort effects (earlier generations may have been born in, say, particularly good or bad times). First, using data on 500,000 randomly sampled Americans and West Europeans, the paper designs a test that can control for cohort effects. Holding other factors constant, we show that a typical individual’s happiness reaches its minimum - on both sides of the Atlantic and for both males and females - in middle age. Second, evidence is provided for the existence of a similar U-shape through the life-course in East European, Latin American and Asian nations. Third, a U-shape in age is found in separate well-being regression equations in 72 developed and developing nations. Fourth, using measures that are closer to psychiatric scores, we document a comparable well-being curve across the life cycle in 2 other data sets (1) in GHQ-N6 mental health levels among a sample of 16,000 Europeans, and (2) in reported depression-and-anxiety levels among 1 million UK citizens. Fifth, we discuss some apparent exceptions, particularly in developing nations, to the U-shape. Sixth, we note that American male birth-cohorts seem to have become progressively less content with their lives. Our results are based on regression equations in which other influences, such as demographic variables and income, are held constant.
I dont’ think its status as much as a decent basic necessitites thing along with security. If you have the money to live in a decent, clean, healthy environment with food and knowing health needs or such will be met and then further know that will be the case until you die. Then its much easier to be happy. I get the studies though but im always suspect. Like how much of the U is specific to a sorta point in time and is it eroding for people getting to those ages.
I’d take it further to say having enough income for a reasonable number of desires also increases happiness.
But this is harder because you’re more miserable if you can’t moderate or your desires outgrow your resources or it turns into greed
We’re all familiar with happy to have the freedom to buy x but the emptiness of chronic shopping
certainly. Im in a zero disposable income situation and it drives me crazy the little things I have to forgo that while not strictly necessary are niceties or conveniences.
Nope, it’s personal and specific to how you lived your life.
No, there is a well-studied and objective answer to this general question. Even though people will vary, there’s a crystal-clear trend that’s been studied over and over again as a perennial question in psychology, sociology, and economics. We don’t have to base any of this on vibes, and arguably a question with a definitive answer like this doesn’t belong here.
There is no empirical way to measure happiness, just because a paper says so doesn’t mean, that it’s objectively correct
Whoah, watch out. We got a scientific badass over here! Don’t follow too close, peasants, or you’ll trip over their trailing list of doctorates! 😱🫡
There are many people who never find a moment of peace in their lives and may become more vocal as they age. For most people, in my observation, there comes a point where they move past their easier life and live with a sense of peace or accomplishment.
Not necessarily, but for the last couple decades the world has been getting progressively shittier, so it might feel that way, especially when you have chronic depression due to the world getting progressively shittier.
(Also the people you care about get older and sicker, and will eventually die, and you can’t really do much about that, which isn’t particularly fun either. It all builds up into the chronic depression.)
I did not have a very happy childhood but it improved in high school and college. Late college and working world sucked but got a job in a nice place and it went up but it paid low so had this anxiety about the long term. then it became a slog and now everything has collapsed. So for me personally. Kinda? There was this idea of work hard and sacrifice to get ahead but it did not really pan out and I kinda wonder if taking drugs and living for the day might have been the better way to go.
Cult upbringing aside, I had a good and loving family. They were genuinely doing the best with what they knew. I’ll never fault them for that.
All my real damage came from being an adult, in a world that was radically more dangerous and difficult than my sheltered upbringing prepared me for. And that damage is cumulative. We just gather more of it as we survive more shit through the decades.
I don’t think so. I’ve read the opposite and IME you learn not to sweat the small stuff. That helps a lot.
People progressively lose all their friends as they get older.
I am more content with who i am now but I am also quite restless and I’m finding it difficult to connect to people
Another lemming posted some data already but I guess, intuitively, it makes sense: no responsibilities and usually taken care of -> some responsibilities without the PFC/maturity necessary to handle them efficiently but you still somewhat prioritise and have time for fun-> even larger responsibilities (usually caring for other people as well, like children and parents) but with enough maturity to handle them without needing to focus on youthful hedonism -> fewer responsibilities but still mature and now probably in a better financial position, and you can already be satisfied with your lot in life and what you’ve done with it -> little to no responsibilities and you’re usually taken care of.
It can be a factor for some. Personally, I think I’m happier now overall than I was a couple of decades ago. Not to say I don’t get cranky and irritable sometimes, because that definitely happens. Maybe moreso now. But I think that’s because I just don’t have the tolerance for nonsense.
But I’m fairly content with life. And my attitude towards people who have different lifestyle to me had mellowed out, because life’s too short. I think that has helped with my overall happiness quite a lot.
I’d be even happier if the wider world wasn’t going to shit. But eh, it is what it is.
I’m in my late 40s now, and I’ve been getting happier as I get older.
Definitely more emotionally resilient, subjectively able to access happiness easier, though not sure how hopeful I am compared to when I was young er…
Why they less happy? Closer to death yay!
There isn’t a universal answer, I expect it depends a lot on your worldview and whether you got past your hangups earlier in life, and what your health, regrets and living situation are. I have anecdotal evidence both ways.
Not in my case - I’m 73 and despite physical challenges I’m happier than I’ve ever been. What makes me happy is having wonderful friends, plenty of interests and all my marbles.
I look back on my anxious 20-something self with pity. Why was I so bloody worried what everyone would think of me?
I think there may be something to brain chemistry and physical make-up changing over time, but I’d argue that for most people happiness is environmental.
Reality. It adds up.
I’m getting pretty pissy in my age. Too many responsibilities, not enough money and time to handle them all.
The extrovert living inside of me is getting laid back and grumpy, that’s for sure
You either die young or live long enough for everyone you care and love about to pass away.
Unless you’re the last human alive (and don’t car about animals), this shouldn’t happen.
Even as you get older, you should care about other people. Arguably, you should care about people you don’t even know too!
You will get it if you live as long as I have. It is bittersweet as you got to experience their love and then lose them. The number of people you lose invariably grows exponentially the older you are.
Not necessarily. I’ve been getting happier and happier over time, even despite the world getting shittier. Of course there still are problems, but I’m fairly sure i can fix those over time as well.
Though that might be more from that my childhood wasn’t that great, not the worst physical abuse either, but not a normal one either with a dash of psychological and emotional abuse and minimal support, only what’s required by the law.
So getting older, getting nore comfortable within my body and figuring myself out, stuff which usually is done in childhood and teenage years in a safe and supportive environment, has been helpful in making life more comfortable and having more control over my own life, which ultimately allowes me to make life more comfortable for myself and become happier.
Mostly, yes. The following is obviously a generalization.
Children are in a state of growth, so they heal quickly, in a state of care, so their needs/wants are usually met without effort, and in a state of ignorance, so they often aren’t aware of all the awful things they are surrounded by.
Adolescents are still in a state of growth, but it’s unstable, meaning they can feel awkward. They are in a state of semi-care, so many of their needs are cared for, but not all, and certainly not all of their wants. And they are often coming to realise the horrors of the world which were hidden before. They see and begin to comprehend death, tragedy, human cruelty and frailty, etc. though the concepts are usually distant.
Adults are worse off still. They get hurt and it’s permanent because the only growth they get to experience is cancer. They are expected to care for themselves almost completely, with little support entitlement. And they become not only aware of death and tragedy but correctly expectant that it will come for them. And they often then have kids, which means they have to provide the child’s full care on top of, and even in place of, their own. If they didn’t fall in love with the kids, they’d probably commit some combination of murder and/or suicide to escape them.
The elderly round things off. They are in near constant pain from all the damage done to their bodies. They are still expected to mostly care for themselves, or have saved up enough money/obligation to carry them through to the end as their bodies crumble. They are very aware of their impending doom as they watch friends, family, and personal heroes die around them. If they are wise, they are painfully aware of the foolish mistakes of those around them and have to watch their loved ones walk into the same holes into which they walked and from which they climbed years ago, and have all the experience to understand a world that has changed by the time they understand it. If they have children, they teeter between having to care for them and needing to be cared for by them. If not, they are forced to be still selfreliant as their ability to be so disintegrates.
And then there are the dying. It’s usually a painful process. That’s gotta suck.
For most people life sucks and then you die.
Anyone can find happiness with their lot in life, no one truly understands why some of the worst experiences lewd to positive outcomes, but the typical result is misery.
As you age you have more experiences to compare reality to. Many of those experiences wouldn’t be a recognizable experience to the other people that shared that time and space. We create our own reality in our minds that usually is shared in a comprehensive enough way to recognize and agree with, but each person’s experience and interpretation of that shared experience is their own.
Whether crows are wonderful exciting and creature to behold, or dive bombing poop monsters waiting to target you is your own mind interpreting what you see.
These experiences shape how you look at the world and you repeat many of them in some ways reinforcing the held interpretation of it
Its a very easy to find pattern in historical records that older people(generationally) see the new world that has been shaped by younger people is harder to understand. And while some people do find this exciting and energizing, most people will find it a burden or a corruption of what they understand.
Things change. Viva mutator, non tolitur.(I don’t know if this is a real quote but I always remember it from some fiction book I read that explained this translated “latin” phrase as life is changed, not ended)
How you can enjoy your life while living through some of the worst experiences or on going conditions is beyond my understanding, but you won’t stop finding people that are amazingly happy in spite of this. Maybe a very small amount but you won’t ever stop finding more if you put enough time in.
I mean I didn’t start feeling any form of happiness starting from probably my teen years till I started going to therapy last year (I’m 30). Even now it’s mostly fleeting and half the time I feel like I’m just masking when I’m around others.
Sort of. Your brain produces less dopamine because it’s focused on retaining knowledge rather than enforcing learning.
I generally get more happy the older I get.
Depends on what you do with your time. I’ve found that as long as you keep learning, you’re fine.
Curmudgeon in training, I fear…
I Norway there was a watershed moment in this question a couple of years ago.
Young adults (students) had always reported being more happy than older people (retired), on average.
Then, abt five years ago, this flipped! The older, retired people reported being more happy than young adults.
I’ll see if I can find the link
im 30, id have to say no, at least to this point
For me it’s always gone in phases. My happiest phase in life was raising kids. Now they’re in college so I need to figure out my next phase in life
I think that you have a lot of agency over how you live your life and what you do, which has a huge impact on your happiness.
There is no general answer here, just try to do more things that you know are good for you and make you happy. Eat healthier, stay reasonably fit, get a good and consistent sleep cycle (this has a huge hormonal impact on your happiness). Enjoy good art, make meaningful connections, if you are angry about the state of the world, try to revolt.
This is it.
Every miserable person I know endlessly complaints how they don’t have control over things. Even when they do. They just convince themselves that have no other choices and their misery becomes their identity.