A research team in Germany evaluated 460,902 participants to determine at what age people are happiest. The study led to a definitive result: on average, people are happiest at the age of 70.
The longitudinal study considered three "central components of subjective well-being": life satisfaction, positive emotional states and negative emotional states. It was conducted by the German Sport University Cologne, Ruhr University Bochum, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the universities of Bern and Basel in Switzerland, and published in the journal 'Psychological Bulletin' in September.
The study revealed that life satisfaction decreased between the ages of 9 and 16, increased again to peak at the age of 70 and then decreased once more until the age of 96. Positive emotional states generally declined throughout participants' lifetimes after the age of 9, and negative emotional states fluctuated between the age of 9 and 22, declined until the age of 60 and then increased until the age of 94.
What we already knew
"Overall, the study indicated a positive trend over a wide period of life, if we look at life satisfaction and negative emotional states," co-author of the study, Susanne Bücker, noted positively. Some results proved tendencies that societies have widely already understood. Now, this understanding is backed up by research.
For example, the decline in life satisfaction in early adolescence can probably be attributed to puberty and its well-documented impact on teenager's bodies and social lives. Additionally, the general decline of all factors of well-being (life satisfaction, positive emotional states and negative emotional states) in old age is also something many come to expect.
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"This could be related to the fact that in very old people, physical performance decreases, health often deteriorates, and social contacts diminish," Bücker explained, "not least because their peers pass away."
Ultimately, the study reveals lifetime trends in subjective well-being that could provide the framework for intervention, especially within the context of a worsening youth mental health crisis and in regards to supporting the elderly population's emotional well-being.
