A number of studies have claimed that happiness declines from the early 20s to middle age (40 to 60). That low point is known, of course, as the "mid-life crisis."
Well, maybe it's all a myth.
New research published in Developmental Psychology suggests that happiness doesn't stall in midlife. Instead, it's part of an upward trajectory beginning in our teens and early twenties.
This study is reviewed as far more reliable than research that came before.
Other findings:
- People are happier in their early 40s (midlife) than they were at age 18
- Happiness rises fastest between age 18 and well into the 30s
- Happiness is higher in years when people are married and in better physical health, and lower in years when people are unemployed
- The rise in happiness to midlife refutes the purported "u-bend" in happiness, which assumes that happiness declines between the teens and the 40s and cumulates in a midlife crisis
