Older Adults Enjoy Happier Lives - Research
Most Elderly People Are Content and Satisfied with Their Lives
Aug 9, 2009
Recently published studies have shown that elderly people are living more contented lives than supposed from the popular stereotypes of the “grumpy old man’ and the ‘grumpy old woman.’ The studies come from Australia and the USA.
An Australian study, completed in 2008 by a team from the University of Queensland’s School of Psychology led by Professor Bill von Hippel, examined the links between people’s age and their social satisfaction.
They measured the social activities and social satisfaction in older adults between 66 and 91, compared with younger adults between 18 and 30. While the younger adults were involved in a lot more activities than the older cohort, Professor von Hippel said they reported as being no happier than the seniors.
“Despite older people engaging in fewer social activities with others and spending more time alone each day, they are just as socially satisfied as their younger counterparts,” he said.
Older People See the Good Things in Daily Life
The reason for this social resilience seems to lie in how older and younger adults perceive their social activities, Professor von Hippel said.
“If a young person and an old person have the same experience, the older adult is likely to find it more uplifting. Older adults appear to see the good things in life more easily and are less likely to be upset by the little things that go wrong,” he said.
“As a consequence, their daily experiences bring them just as much satisfaction as younger adults, even if they have lost friends or a spouse, or if they can no longer get out as much as they would like.
“This may be the wisdom of aging, the ability to experience everyday life as uplifting.”
Older Americans also Happier than Younger People
Research presented at the recent 117th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association,
showed that people get happier as they age and have more emotional control in their lives.In particular, people living into their 80s and 90s reported that their emotional happiness increased as they aged.
Elderly people with dementia or severe depression were in the minority, reported Dr Susan Turk Charles, of the University of California, Irvine.
As with the Queensland study, Dr Charles described a comparison of the younger and older adults’ thoughts and emotions, this time after hearing personal criticism from other people.
She said the younger adults focused more on negative comments and demanded more information about the origin of the criticism. However, the older adults dwell less on the negative comments, and overall their responses were less negative than the younger adults.
Making the Most of the Time You Have is Key
Dr Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity at Stanford University, told the Convention that increases in life expectancy would result in the percentage of people on the planet over 65 more than doubling by 2050. The fastest-growing segment is people over 85.
“Life expectancy changed because people changed the way they lived,” she said. “Now that we’re here, we have to keep adapting.
“We are in the middle of a second revolution and it’s up to us to make adulthood itself longer and healthier.”
Dr Charles said it was probable that older adults were aware of the value of their time. “Based on work by Carstensen and her colleagues, we know that older people are increasingly aware that the time they have left in life is growing shorter,” she said.
“They want to make the best of it so they avoid engaging in situations that will make them unhappy. They have also had more time to learn and understand the intentions of others which help them to avoid these stressful situations.”
Readers may also enjoy How to be Happy – it’s All in Your Mind and Mental Health Benefits from Nature.
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