44 year olds are the most unhappy

Maggie recently wrote about a new adult twin study suggesting happiness has a strong genetic component. Now another study published this month reveals a global pattern of happiness -- and the news is not good for people in their forties. Mid-life crisis anyone?

Researchers surveyed 2 million people across 70 countries. Happiness tends to follow a U-shaped curve across the lifespan. For people mid-40s and younger, happiness trends downward as you age, but then people become happier as they get even older, filling out the rising stroke of the U-curve. Mid-life unhappiness is a global condition, and in this study the low-point fell around the tender age of 44.

You might chalk this up to the 44 year old with a stressful job, a mortgage and raising two kids. But researchers stated adjusting for kids, income, marital status and education didn't sway the U-curve. The data also were gathered over 30 years, so the U-curve can't be explained by particular generational factors. One happiness expert involved in previous research on the subject contends angst, disgust and anger may diminish as we get older and worry less about what others think. Another expert stated the mid-life drop in happiness in their respective study revolved around people's fading youth and the hard fact that dreams and aspirations may be left unfulfilled.

I find happiness research incredibly interesting. I just hope this U-shaped curve does not become self-fulfilling or the next three years will progressively worsen. I'm 40, but I'm bucking the trend -- I am the happiest I've ever been. I couldn't have said that during my confusing 20s.