Americans Over 30 Are More Miserable Than They’ve Ever Been

[Purveyor]

It all goes downhill after 30 — at least when it comes to happiness.

“Adults over 30 are less happy than their predecessors,” concludes a study published online Thursday in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science, which examined happiness data from more than 50,000 adults, gleaned from the General Social Survey, carried out by NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan, independent research organization, which has collected information about American adults since 1972.


From 2010 to 2014, adults over 30 had an average happiness score of just 2.18, compared with 2.24 a decade ago. That’s significant considering happiness scores were measured on a tiny scale from just 1 to 3, with 1 being “not too happy” and 3 being “very happy.” (The data used five-year cohort periods so that single year fluctuations were smoothed out.)

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What’s perhaps even more interesting is that, for the first time ever, adults ages 18 to 29 were happier than adults over 30. “The happiness advantage of mature adults over adolescents has dwindled,” write the authors of the study, entitled “More Happiness for Young People and Less for Mature Adults: Time Period Differences in Subjective Well-Being in the United States, 1972 - 2014.”

While the authors don’t know for sure why younger adults are happier than older ones for the first time in at least 40 years, they do have some theories. First, rising inequality may have more of an impact on the well-being of older adults than on younger ones, who are more apt to think they can overcome such things given that they have more time. And older adults may be more disappointed by the “increasingly unrealistic expectations for educational attainment, jobs, material goods and relationships,” the authors write, while younger adults still have hope for these things.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-over-30-are-more-miserable-than-theyve-ever-been-2015-11-09

[frazzled]

1. So, 1.5 is "meh"?

That's the middle happy rating (50% happy, 50% unhappy).

2.18 means you're 72% happy. Which doesn't sound too bad to me.

What makes me unhappy are these kinds of stupid studies. How do you even rate happiness on a scale of 1 to 3? What is happiness anyway?

[magical thyme]

5. you're confusing mean with median, and individual responses with the group as a whole.

50% happy, 50% unhappy refers to a median, with half over 1.5 and half under 1.5.

But people didn't self-report 1.5, and 2.18 doesn't mean that "you" are "72% happy. "

The options were 1, 2 and 3, with 1=unhappy, 2=somewhat happy, 3= very happy. The group as a whole was a mix of outright unhappy, somewhat happy and very happy people. The combination of 1's, 2's and 3's in which the total score/#of participants = 2.18.

[frazzled]

9. Which is somewhat happy (plus a drop), for the group as a whole

Which again, isn't bad. What they don't report is whether people are basing their ratings on ephemeral reactions to a particular day or week or month in their life (I fell in love! I got a huge raise! I graduated—or, by contrast, "my wife left me!" "my dog died!" "I lost my job&quot . We all experience both sides of these emotions in our lives.

I've lived long enough to realize that across ones lifetime there are high and low periods, joys and sorrows. So anyone who claims to be ecstatically happy seems to me to be either naive ... or on the brink of a big (negative) surprise. On the other hand, those who say they are supremely unhappy are probably victims of depression or their own grim outlook at a particular point in time. I look back on my life and think, "I'm actually somewhat happy, even despite all the missed opportunities, worries, and bad stuff."

[stillwaiting]

11. This probably should have been a 4 or 5 point scale.

Having a somewhat happy but not a somewhat unhappy seems like a flaw to me.

It seems like it would bias the results to being somewhere in the happy zone.

[merrily]

2. The good news is that happiness picks up again a few decades after age 30.

By age 88, you'll be kicking your heels together. Well, if you can still jump that high.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=4688191&page=1

My advice: decide to be happier sooner, while your body is still likely to be able to go along for the joyride. You really have nothing to lose.

[Thinkingabout]

3. Since I have progressed through these ages with ease I have found those who are grumpy at a young

Age continues to be grumpy at older ages, they did not become grumpy as they aged. On the other hand those who are you and happy age happy, it is usually left to the individual which do they want to be. I choose happy, it is easier and I laugh with others.

[Orrex]

17. It would be lovely to live in a world where we can all choose to be happy

Alas, we're stuck in this world, where the choice is so often made for us.

[Thinkingabout]

18. It is the glass half full or half empty.

[Orrex]

19. Tell that to the mother whose child is born with a fatal congenital illness

The kind that causes the child more or less constant discomfort or pain until he finally dies before his 2nd birthday.

I'm sure she'd love to hear about her half-full glass.

[Thinkingabout]

21. I learned many years ago you can't change your childhood, you can't change the last ten years,

you can't change last week or even the last hour, I choose to wake up in the morning and thinking this can be the best day of my life.

[Orrex]

23. That's a wonderful philosophy for people whose circumstance allow it.

For those whose circumstances do not, it's a prime example of a feelgood pollyanna slogan that provides neither strength nor comfort for people who are truly suffering.

[Thinkingabout]

26. I am not without suffering, but to wake up everyday saying it is going to the worst day of my life

is not for me.

[Orrex]

27. I'm pleased that your circumstances have allowed you to live that way.

Others are not so fortunate, through no choice or fault of their own.

I find that it is more helpful to remember this fact than to scold people for failing to convince themselves that things can only get better.

[Thinkingabout]

28. I have not scolded anyone, there are those who choose to live their lives happpy and those who do

not. I also will not be scolded for living my life happy. There are those who are grumpy and those who are not. It does not mean I don't have compassion.

[Orrex]

30. I know that you think that, but you're wrong.

Heck, I even believe that you truly don't mean to scold anyone, and for what that's worth, it's admirable.

However, as soon as you diminish the issue to a "glass half empty/half full" platitute, you are deliberately ignoring the ugliness that many people are forced to endure in their daily lives. You've framed the matter as choice, by which faulty logic those people must have chosen to see their dire circumstances as less-than-rosy. They'd be happy if only they'd chosen better, in other words.

We've heard the whole "people make bad choices" rhetoric many times, typically as a way to scold people for failing to achieve financial security, and it's the same tactic here.

Even calling these people "grumpy" is a diminishing insult, because it invariably invokes images of a cartoon Dwarf and a funny cat. Call my friend--the one whose son died at 23 months--and tell her that you don't think she should choose to be grumpy.


I'm not even speaking for myself here; I'm quite content with my life, and I'm in a better position overall than I've ever been before. But my compassion requires me to maintain the perspective that others do not enjoy the good luck and opportunities from which I have benefited, so I don't presume to tell them how great I believe they should think their lives are.

[Thinkingabout]

31. Now, this is not necessary, there are grumpy people and there are those who aren't. This is a fact.

[Orrex]

32. There are scolding self-congratulators who'll insist that they're compassionate...

This, too, is a fact.

[Thinkingabout]

34. I am not scolding myself, and I am very compassionate, I am not getting the same here, I dont

need this and I am out of here.

[Orrex]

35. Make sure to let a smile be your umbrella, and you'll be fine.

[Buns_of_Fire]

20. Or is the glass simply twice a big as it needs to be? nt

[haele]

37. There's grumpy, and then there's depressed.

There's hopeful, and there's the endless drop into a pit of hopelessness.

There's spending too much time concentrating on trying to climb out of the hole you find yourself in - not just through choices, but because other circumstances and other people's "choices" to better themselves have come about at your expense - and then there's taking time to enjoy the rain turning the sides into a muddy muck as you're trying to clime out.

Unlike the slow revelations in actual studies in Buddhism or Zen/Taoism, Pop-Buddism and "positive thinking" mantras do not make it clear that while the platitudes and wise sayings are signposts to a better life, it is understood that the person has to be able to read and follow the instructions without becoming confused before they do any "good". Evolution and wisdom is a slow process, and is dependent not only on the person evolving, but the environment around that person.

Telling my step-daughter, clinically depressed and self-medicating because she doesn't trust anyone after the shit her mother and stepfather pulled on her to "smile, everything will be better" - is as helpful to her as telling her that belching after a full meal will help her stomach feel better.
She has to work her way out of it, and no amount of "helpful" advice will help her until she gets to the point she can listen to the advice without freaking out or wilting under what she sees as harsh criticism.

That's what life is. Not everyone has the same capabilities - or the same size "glass" to be half-full or half empty.
(I'm an engineer. The glass is always full...whether or not it's with something in a drinkable state is another situation...)
You're lucky to be able to be cheerful. As am I, when I choose to be. The only difference between our philosophies is that I understand how lucky I am able to "read" my moods, and (to the best of my ability) make the optimal choices to minimize the amount of stress around me.

Haele

[Thinkingabout]

42. Yes there is grumpy and depressed, both different.

[applegrove]

4. Yup. Republican fear mongering doesn't make the base happy,

Last edited Mon Nov 9, 2015, 07:40 PM - Edit history (1)

just scared. But hey the little people were put in the United US to serve the rich - not happy!

[1StrongBlackMan]

6. I haven't read the article; but, I wonder if that's because ...

we have never been told so many times per hour, all the stuff were supposed to have, in order to be happy?

[Fumesucker]

10. Some time ago I spoke with a very elderly member of my family about her life in the Depression

They lived in a dirt floored shack with an outhouse and no running water, raised almost all their own food even sugar cane they took to the mill to be crushed into syrup for their sweetener, chicken coop, pigpen and so on.

She told me they had no idea they were poor, everyone else around them lived about the same and they didn't have TV showing them glittering scenes of extravagant lifestyles all the time to let them know how poor they were.

Being poor in a time and place where everyone is poor is one thing, being poor where you are constantly reminded that you are poor is quite another and far more soul destroying.

I long ago gave up TV and have found my mental state has steadily improved ever since.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. And the sad thing is ...

The folks online that are crying poor ... are only "poor" relative to the 1%.

[Fumesucker]

15. Being on the internet is much more about knowledge than money

You sound just like the conservatives who think anyone who has a refrigerator or a flat screen TV is not poor, I can get an internet capable computer at a yard sale, the flea market or a thrift store for under $20 complete with monitor. I'd have to pay more than that at the same places for a flat screen TV because they are more in demand than old computers.

Not everyone who is knowledgeable has money, Debi Thomas for instance is an MD who also has an engineering degree from Stanford and yet is broke and living in a ramshackle trailer in Appalachia.

Once you fall out of the middle class for whatever of a myriad of reasons it can be astoundingly difficult to climb back up that economic mountain.

[1StrongBlackMan]

16. You're reading wayyyy too much into what I wrote ...

For example, the single loudest income inequality voice on DU is far from poor ... (from his anonymous writings) he is solidly middleclass, works as a professional and earns 6 figures, albeit less than his Ivy-league class mates.

[n2doc]

22. And being constantly told that one is a 'failure' for being poor

After all, there are 20- something Billionaires out there! All you need to do is write the next Facebook or Instagram, ya lazy good-for-nothing Losers!

[1StrongBlackMan]

24. It's not even being told one is a 'failure' for being poor ...

The message we receive is: one is a 'failure' for not having the newest toy, the biggest house, the flashiest accessory, the corner office (along with that 6-figure salary). We are constantly being told we are lesser because we don't have more ... regardless of where we are at.

[KansDem]

7. Enough of this folderol!

If it's happiness I seek, I pick up a fifth of scotch on the way home. That and Stan Getz is all I need!

[Shandris]

8. And absolutely no one with the slightest bit of self-awareness is surprised. n/t.

[Octafish]

13. What Hemingway said.

"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know." - Ernest Hemingway

[puzzledeagle]

14. Probably because life seems to be getting progressively worse with each passing year

2015 has been the worst year of my life so far. Can't wait for it to end.

[PasadenaTrudy]

39. We had a hard year too

Lost about 7 people, friends and family - - murder, suicide, cancer. Also 2010 was bad, lost mom and sister. It gets harder the older we get with the losses, at least. Here's to a better 2016

[mmonk]

25. And it is all unnecessary. It has been the result of policy that no longer

favors the welfare of the people but the financialization of the US and EU.

[restorefreedom]

29. people are tired of seeing the obscene injustice

and inequality in every aspect of life. the planet is dying, wars are everywhere, and all the rich care about is the ability to commodify everything, including water!

meanwhile, the 1% keep getting their new toys and wonder why everyone else can't "make it" in a rigged world

[smirkymonkey]

33. It's funny, I was having a conversation with some friends about this last night.

We are all about the same age and we all feel like we are at the peak of our earning power and if we were to lose our jobs, we feel like we would not find better or higher paying jobs to replace them and that we would begin a downward spiral.

None of us has enough to retire on yet, we haven't had raises (or significant raises) in years, our expenses keep going up, life keeps getting crueler and more uncertain due to greedy corporations and politicians and we just generally fear for the future. It's not so much that we are unhappy in the moment, it's just that we are so afraid of what might be down the road.

It doesn't look hopeful for people our age. We don't see it getting any better for us, only worse - and we are all well educated with good jobs, but we could easily see ourselves being bumped out of the middle class after a few unfortunate bumps in the road. It's a scary time and it's stressful. I can see why a lot of people might drink or use drugs to escape their current reality.

[closeupready]

36. Wow. I could have written this, word for word.

[FLPanhandle]

40. Great explanation. As someone in their early 50's, I agree

I'd add in that we also have serious concerns for our children and their future success.

[PasadenaTrudy]

41. Yep, same here...

I worry about illnesses, too.

[smirkymonkey]

43. Yes, that's another concern. And if you lose your job and insurance and

we end up with a republican administration that ends up gutting our social safety net it's even more frightening. This is why republicans make me so angry! So many of us are one major medical event away from poverty.

[Beach Rat]

38. Aint this the truth!

It's a dreary day here in the east. I don't need to be reading anything like this on a day like today.

[smirkymonkey]

44. Here is another interesting take:

http://www.alternet.org/krugman-theres-darkness-spreading-over-our-society

"...So what is going on? In a recent interview Mr. Deaton suggested that middle-aged whites have “lost the narrative of their lives.” That is, their economic setbacks have hit hard because they expected better. Or to put it a bit differently, we’re looking at people who were raised to believe in the American Dream, and are coping badly with its failure to come true.

That sounds like a plausible hypothesis to me, but the truth is that we don’t really know why despair appears to be spreading across Middle America. But it clearly is, with troubling consequences for our society as a whole.

In particular, I know I’m not the only observer who sees a link between the despair reflected in those mortality numbers and the volatility of right-wing politics. Some people who feel left behind by the American story turn self-destructive; others turn on the elites they feel have betrayed them. No, deporting immigrants and wearing baseball caps bearing slogans won’t solve their problems, but neither will cutting taxes on capital gains. So you can understand why some voters have rallied around politicians who at least seem to feel their pain.

At this point you probably expect me to offer a solution. But while universal health care, higher minimum wages, aid to education, and so on would do a lot to help Americans in trouble, I’m not sure whether they’re enough to cure existential despair...more"