The older you get the happier you become! Is this you?
A new COVID-19 study from the University of California has attempted to answer a question psychologists have debated for years, why older people tended to lead more carefree lives than the young.
Susan Charles, a professor of psychology at the University of California, told the New York Times there had always been a ‘happiness gap’ between older people and young adults.
There had been no humane way to quantify this gap until the pandemic hit, allowing the university to measure people’s moods during a highly stressful time, and the gap actually widened!
Young adults reported elevated levels of stress while older people, while still stressed, said their happiness levels either didn’t change, or increased, extending the happiness gap.
The leading theory was that as people aged, they became better at avoiding stressful situations and also having the ability to compartmentalise stress because they have more opportunity to “soften the stress” of daily life.
It was also theorised that older people see a shrinking horizon in the future and as a result tend to focus more on daily activities that are more fulfilling and pleasing.
In contrast, younger people trying to line up their future were left stressed and angered by the pandemic, possibly because of an uncertain future.
The message of the findings is the young could take a page out of older people’s books, and relax!
Discussion1 Comment
hi, about the older people coping with covid better than young people is older people understand how all our lives we have constance change from the day we are born ,some changes are big and life changing like buying a house changing jobs, for young people starting secondary school , going to uni, often having to leave home.
young people often need to be taught about accepting change as normal part of their lives , some time very small ,other times sudden changes are hard to cope with if they are unaware of the part change shapes our lives