Happiness is U-shaped

Happiness follows a U-shaped curve during a person`s lifetime, according to investigation showing that middle-aged individuals are the unhappiest.

Satisfaction with life starts to drop as soon as a person`s late 20s and doesn't begin to recover until properly past 50, says Bert van Landeghem, an economist at Maastricht University in Belgium.

Although teenagers are carefree and full of expect the near future and the over-50s have started to terms using the trials of life, the study indicates that those in the center feel weighed down by the demands in it.

The research found "a substantial dip in happiness during the middle of people`s lives is the equivalent to becoming unemployed or losing a household member".
The conclusions come in a study of how people perceive their wellbeing.

Mr van Landeghem, who is 29, will present his analysis in the Royal Economic Society annual conference at Royal Holloway, the University based in london,this week.

As they stated happiness did return with age, he warned that older people didn't in fact recapture the spirit of their youth. They simply learnt to become pleased with their lot.

"A U-shaped happiness curve does not necessarily imply that a 65 year-old prefers their own life to the life of a 25 year-old," he said. "Both the 25 year-old and 65 year-old may possibly agree that it's nicer to be 25 than to be 65. But the 65 year-old may always be happier, because he has learned to be satisfied with what he has."

Studies all over the world show that happiness has a tendency to dip in midlife, he said, and that it was not just a phenomenon confined to the Civilized world.

Last month, Lewis Wolpert, emeritus professor of biology at University College London, stated happiness could peak as late as 80. In a book referred to as You`re Searching Very Well, Prof Wolpert stated most people were "averagely happy" very young and 20s, but this declined until early middle age as they attempted to support a household and career.

He added: "From the mid-40s, men and women tend to grow to be ever more cheerful and optimistic, maybe reaching a maximum in their late 70s or 80s."
An easing of the responsibilities of middle age, maturity and an increased pinpoint the issues we love contributed towards the trend, he said.

Other studies have shown slightly different results on happiness levels over a lifetime. For example, Kennon Sheldon from the University of Missouri told LiveScience that his data points to some slight increase in well-being with age, with no U-shaped dip. He has noticed that older adults are more motivated to do points for their own interests and feelings than depending on guilt or pressure from others, although, which might aid explain their higher happiness, he explained.

The debate continues, although, because similar U-shaped patterns are seen in other information sets, including numerous studies in the usa. Daniel Mroczeck, of Purdue University in Indiana, led one of these studies. His work focused on participants 50 plus, but additionally found the same bump in happiness in senior years. Some investigation has got so bold as to narrow down why is for happiness, suggesting it comes with becoming old, male and Republican.

And while the newly identified U-shaped pattern turns up consistently in many populations, that doesn't mean happiness dips in mid-age for every person.

"The overall pattern may show convexity [a u-shape] over the life time, but a concave [n-shaped] pattern from 50 or more; nonetheless, this is an average pattern," Mroczeck told LiveScience in an e-mail. "What is often ignored is the fact that large amount of interesting variation around the overall pattern."

The work is being presented by Van Landeghem at the Royal Economic Society's annual conference working in london.