Does our age affect our sense of happiness and well-being? According to research led by economist David Blanchflower of Dartmouth our happiness is “U-shaped” with a happiness trough occurring at about age 47.

The U-shaped happiness curve was found to exist in all 132 countries studied. Why is this the case? The researchers aren’t sure but speculate that it is “something that happens deep inside of humans.” According to the researchers, “one possibility is that individuals learn to adapt to their strengths and weaknesses, and in midlife quell their infeasible aspirations. Another possibility is that cheerful people live systematically longer. A third possibility is that a kind of comparison process is at work in which people have seen similar-aged peers die and value more their own remaining years. Perhaps people somehow learn to count their blessings.” Source.

In a companion paper, Dr. Blanchflower found a hump-shaped result with respect to things that tend to cause unhappiness, such as worry, sadness, stress, phobias, pain, and lack of sleep. Even though happiness is not merely the inverse of unhappiness, an inverse of the happiness curve was found with most factors that cause unhappiness. In other words, things that tend to cause unhappiness peak in our late forties and thus correlates to the dip in happiness we experience at that time. Here are charts showing the hump for various causes of unhappiness:

Update – Note on the control vs. limited control in charts above. From the research paper: “In this paper results are presented both ways, with a ’limited controls’ for year and country or state and then ’with controls’ for marital and employment status and education. Adding controls is not simply equivalent to finding that those in their 70 s would be happier if they were healthier and their friends were alive. The findings with controls show that the old are happier despite the other things that may have happened as they age, such as losing friends or declining health. [It is important] that the hump or hill shape in unhappiness, or what psychologists call negative affect , is clearly seen both with a full set of socioeconomic controls and with limited controls for year and country or region.”