At What Ages Are We Happiest?

Throughout our lives, we all experience ups and downs in our own perceptions of happiness throughout our lives. Now teams of German and Swiss psychologists have collaborated to study this phenomenon by analyzing a series of studies covering some 460,902 subjects.

Their data shows that childhood is a time of uniform happiness. Then, as the pre-teen years approach and teen years ensue, happiness diminishes from ages 9 to 16. After the emotional traumas and profound physical changes of adolescence wane, happiness increases and remains prominent from 16 to age 70. Thereafter, happiness diminishes consistently until age 96 when most study data stopped.

These observations represent broad generalizations, and each of us is in command of our own sense of happiness and well-being. Such positive feelings are driven by strong relationships with family and friends, satisfying results in school and at work, and achievement of our short and long-term goals.

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2024-05957-002

#happiness #adolescence #childhood #adulthood #geriatric