At what age does a person feel the most satisfied in life: the answer of scientists

Happiness requires harmony in all areas of life, self-realization, and good health. One might think that most people are happiest when they are young, healthy, and looking their best, but researchers have found a different answer.

After extensive research, scientists analyzed this issue in a comprehensive meta-analytic review. The details were reported by The Jerusalem Post.

Researchers at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, focused on happiness. 460,902 participants provided unique data for a thorough analysis.

Susanne Bücker, professor of psychology, emphasized that the team of scientists studied the graph of variables of the three components that respond to subjective well-being:

• life satisfaction
• positive emotions and long-term positive emotional states;
• negative emotions.

The study was published in the journal Psychological Bulletin under the title "Development of Subjective Well-Being Across the Lifespan: A Meta-Analytical Review of Longitudinal Studies."

The majority of mature people recall childhood and early adolescence with nostalgia, considering this period of life to be the happiest. Scientists have come to different conclusions: it turns out that life satisfaction significantly decreases at the age of 9-16. That is, if over time we think that a certain period in our lives was simple and happy, it is actually because we forget all the worries and troubles that bothered us a lot at the time.

According to the findings, the level of happiness decreased between the ages of 9 and 16, then increased slightly until the age of 70, and then decreased again until the age of 96. This is due to physical and emotional changes that occur at different stages of life. At the same time, negative emotional states fluctuated slightly between the ages of 9 and 22, then decreased until the age of 60, and then increased again. The authors of the study emphasized that the median changes were greater in positive and negative emotional states than in aspects of life satisfaction.

Overall, the study showed a rather unstable trend. In youth, life satisfaction begins to increase, which is quite logical - yesterday's teenagers set out on their own and get rid of parental control. Instead, in late adulthood, all components of subjective well-being tend to deteriorate. Older people usually experience health problems, reduced social contacts, and impaired performance.

The findings of the study will be useful for various programs aimed at maintaining or improving subjective well-being at the end of life.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL told why the elderly have a special body odor.

Subscribe to OBOZREVATEL'sTelegram and Viber channels to keep up with the latest developments.