Your odds of being happy increase 5 percent every 10 years, one researcher says. Older people are just happier overall.
Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist interviewed a sample of Americans from 1972 to 2004, aged 18 to 88. About 28,000 people took part.
The findings? People perceive life as better and happier as they age.
At age 88, 33 percent of people reported being very happy. But at age 18, just 24 percent were very happy.
Wealth, race and economics play roles in happiness during one's lifetime. Wealthier white people are happier at a younger age. Young blacks are less happy. Bad economic times also corresponded with happiness, Yang found. But all those difference melted away as people aged.
University of Chicago researcher Benjamin Cornwell found that social connection is the key to happiness in later life.
Although older people do experience the loss of friends and family, about 75 percent of those aged 57 to 85 have at least one social activity a week. This may be church, volunteering, group activities or socializing with neighbors, according to Cornwell's research published in the American Sociological Review. In fact, people in their 80s were twice as likely to do these things than people in their 50s.
Older people also find contentment with their lives, accepting where their lives have taken them.
One exception seems to be Baby Boomers. Yang found that Boomers were often the least happy, trying to achieve more as they age while not accepting life's accomplishments.
The studies also found that midlife is the most stressful and least happy time as people try to meet the demands of family and work.
