New Study: Seniors Are the Happiest Age Group

Feel like you're not satisfied with your life? Constantly feeling down? Just wait, as the saying goes: 'This too shall pass.' When you reach your golden years, a new study claims, you'll become much more joyful and optimistic.

The study, conducted by the San Diego School of Medicine at the University of California, included 1,546 participants aged 21 to 100. It discovered a seemingly paradoxical trend in mental health: the older we get, the better we feel about ourselves. "The participants reported feeling better about themselves year after year, decade after decade," says the head of the research team, Dilip Jeste, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience. Jeste and his team found that young people in their twenties and thirties were the most unhappy and stressed: "This period is associated with worse mental health than any other period of adulthood," they say.

Common beliefs about aging mostly focus on physical and cognitive decline. Until now, it was believed that mental health followed the same direction. But the new study proves precisely the opposite.

Previous studies have indeed reported that mental illnesses of all kinds are less common among the elderly (except for dementia, of course), but the new study examined not only mental illnesses but also mental well-being: life satisfaction, stress levels, anxiety, and depression. In all these areas, as mentioned, seniors outperformed younger people significantly. "Some cognitive decline with age is unavoidable," says Jeste, "but it is quite clear that it doesn't equally affect everyone and often has no clinical significance — at least not in terms of affecting life satisfaction and enjoyment."

How is it possible, really, that adults with more limited physical and cognitive abilities are happier and mentally healthier than younger people? The researchers offer several hypotheses. First, adults are already experienced in coping with change and stress, and they don't make mountains out of molehills. Secondly, life wisdom plays an important role: several previous studies have shown that older people are more skilled at regulating their emotions and making complex decisions. They also experience fewer negative emotions.

"The alarming thing is that the prevalence of mental illnesses and psychological distress among the young is increasing," says Jeste. "We need to understand the mechanisms behind better mental health in old age despite physical illnesses. Such understanding will help us develop appropriate interventions to aid the mental health of all age groups, including the young."