Does your age have anything to do together with your happiness? In a study, researchers found people’s happiness changes with age. After childhood, the happiness level goes up again only after the age of 70.

Although happiness may vary between people based on personal experiences, the researchers found that life satisfaction – one in every of the aspects that determines happiness – decreases after the age of nine and increases between the ages of 70 and 96.

The study, published within the journal Psychological Bulletin, examined 443 samples from different longitudinal studies with a complete of 460,902 participants. The participants were asked to explain how they felt about themselves during childhood, young maturity and old age.

“The findings show that the respondents’ life satisfaction decreased between the ages of 9 and 16, then increased barely until the age of 70, after which decreased once more until the age of 96,” researchers said in a news release.

They imagine the changes to the body and social life during puberty could be the explanation for the reduced life satisfaction in the course of the period.

Other than life satisfaction, researchers used positive emotional states and negative emotional states to measure happiness.

Positive emotional states declined from age nine to 94, while negative emotional states varied between the ages of 9 and 22, went down until age 60 after which increased after that. Researchers say the decreased well-being of the participants in late maturity is perhaps due to deteriorating health.

“This may very well be related to the undeniable fact that in very old people, physical performance decreases, health often deteriorates, and social contacts diminish; not least because their peers pass away,” said Susanne Bücker, a study writer. “Overall, the study indicated a positive trend over a large period of life, if we have a look at life satisfaction and negative emotional states.”

Researchers hope the findings “could provide significant guidance for the event of intervention programs, especially those geared toward maintaining or improving subjective well-being late in life.”

Published by Medicaldaily.com