The Happiness Advantage

‘Happiness advantage’ over age 30 vanishing, study finds

By MARTHA IRVINE The Associated Press

In this Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2015 photo, psychologist Tim Bono poses for a photo with childhood ribbons and awards in his office at Washington University in St. Louis. A while back, Bono, 32, discovered the relics from his past that reinforced what he and so many in his generation were told, that they were special and could do anything they set their mind to. "My generation has been bathed in messages of how great we are and how anything is possible for us," Bono says, noting that that mindset can easily lead to disappointment. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

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Life is rude awakening for generation of adults told as kids they could do anything.

Are you happy? Very happy? If you're in your 30s or older, a new study has found that you're less likely to answer "yes" than your parents were.

The findings, being published online Thursday in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, come on the heels of another recent report that found that death rates of middle-aged white Americans have been rising, largely due to suicide and substance abuse.

"Age is supposed to bring happiness and contentment. For that not to be true anymore is somewhat shocking," says Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University who is the study's lead author. She also wrote the book "Generation Me," a look at young adults and the attitudes and influences that have helped shape them.

Starting with data in the early 1970s, Twenge and her colleagues found that adults 30 and older used to be happier than younger adults and teens. But that "happiness advantage" has steadily declined as the older adults have expressed less satisfaction with their lives and the younger cohort has gotten a little happier.

Other experts who study happiness say the findings fit with their own research. They attribute the shift to everything from growing financial pressures — and what some call "economic insecurity" — to the fact that real life has been a rude awakening for a generation of young adults who were told they could do anything and are discovering that often isn't true.

Every year someone came to the Kaysville Junior High School and talked about his bucket list. Every year when my child came home all excited and inspired about his ideas in the traveling lyceum, I had reservations. Where was his wife when he climbed Mount Everest? Where are his children while he tromps through Australia? Who sacrifices for him to do the 100 things on his list?  What about their bucket list? Everybody can’t do everything they want. Someone has to tend the babies and wash the dishes; hold down a job, mow the lawn. Who?

Personally, I believe in a bucket list in reverse. “Do something every day you don’t want to do: Make a phone call you don’t want to make; clean a drawer, wash a window.”

When we first moved here, I went to New Beginnings or some such thing with Amy. The guest speaker told the girls that they could be anything they wanted to be.  If you want to be a cheerleader, you can be a cheerleader. She told of her personal experience in becoming a cheerleader. How many girls are cheerleaders? Can a fat girl be a cheerleader if she really desires it?  It just hit me wrong and unrealistic.

A few days ago when I watched my friend’s 90^th birthday party video, I saw this woman who made the speech in New Beginnings 27 years ago. Guess what? She looks old, wrinkled, and tired. Just like the rest of us. She talked more about how sick she is than wishing a Happy Birthday to her 90-year-old mother-in-law. I wondered how important being a cheerleader is to her at this point in her life.

Yaw, that’s why the above article resonates with me.  It’s been on my mind for a long time. Glad to be somewhat validated.