Happiness levels among adults have dropped significantly in the last 40 years.
According to a recent stud0,y regarding adult versus teen happiness, adult happiness is declining. When asked to ascertain their state of mind, candidates over 30, both male and female, answered, unanimously that they are not at all happy with their lives.
What prompted this sudden drop in overall happiness levels? According to the researchers, every aspect seems to converge to a certain year, more specifically 2010. Before 2010, when asked the question “how happy are you with your life?”, most adults over 30 affirmed that they are quite happy with how things are progressing.
Lately, the correlation between age and happiness has swept away, leaving scientists with a lot of question marks. Presently, it seems that the happiest persons are the teenagers. When asked to ascertain their happiness level, teenagers and young adults between 18 and 29 years old answered that they are very happy.
Let’s take a closer look at the numbers. For the study, researchers have collected data ranging from 1970’ until 2014. More than 1.3 million Americans were involved in this study. It seems that, in the early 70s, the number of adults, over 30, who gave a positive answer was over 38 percent. Over the years, that round number seems to have lost its potency, reaching a 32 percent threshold in 2010.
At the opposite side of this happiness contest are the young adults. In the early 70s, when asked to evaluate their level of happiness, most young adults, ranging from 18 to 29, answered that they are very happy. That number seems to have increased to 30 percent in 2010.
Same situation seems to have affected teenagers. In 1970, when asked about their general mood, only 19 percent of them answered that they are very happy. The number has spiked to 23 percent in 2010.
So, let’s recap the facts concerning this case. Adult happiness is declining and no one can point at any culprit. It seems that this decline in satisfaction levels is intimately tied with how each of us perceives life. Most of us are thinking that if I get older, things will go a lot smoother and I will be much more content. Against all other odds, it seems that between dreaming and actually living the dream is a very big gap. And most of us are incapable of crossing it.
We cannot say for sure why certain individuals are unhappy with their lives, but we can say for a fact that being old doesn’t necessarily imply happiness.
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