Mental Health

No Such Thing as Mid-Life Crisis, Shows People Are Much Happier in Middle Age

By Kanika Gupta | Update Date: Jan 14, 2016 02:28 PM EST

According to a latest study conducted by the University of Alberta, there is no such thing as mid-life crisis. It is in fact more similar to a mid-life blissful state. The study called, "Up, Not Down", was published in the academic journal Developmental Psychology. Discrediting the long standing belief that happiness declines between a person's teen age and early 40s, known as the mid-life, the lead researcher and psychology professor Nancy Galambos said that it was actually quite the opposite. In her study, the people were reportedly happier in their late teens, early 20s and early 40s, as believed otherwise. "I think it's because life is more difficult for younger people than for people in middle age," Galambos explains. She adds that there are some adults who face depression because of serious life issues such as job and education. "There's a lot of uncertainty. But by middle age, a lot of people have worked that out and are quite satisfied through the earliest child-bearing years," as reported by the Globe and Mail.

Galambos said the studies often looked at people of various age groups. She added that in her study, University of Alberta researchers surveyed the same people over several years and can be considered as more reliable. Edmonton high school students were monitored for a period of 25 years and another group consisting of graduating university students were followed for 14 years. They were all the asked the same question at different age levels, "How happy are you with your life?" on an average people between the ages of 32 and 43 experienced slight dips in their cheerfulness. "But at both times of measurement, they were higher in happiness than they were in their late teens and early 20s," says Galambos. "They didn't lose their earlier gains and happiness." The study revealed that the happiness was much higher in the preceding years as the participants had more settled lives, reported Huffington Post

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