A snapshot of the age distribution of psychological well-being in the United States

Arthur Stone, Joseph Schwartz, Joan Broderick and Angus Deaton
Additional contact information
Arthur Stone: Stony Brook University
Joseph Schwartz: Stony Brook University and Columbia University Medical Center
Joan Broderick: Stony Brook University

No 1230, Working Papers from Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing.

Abstract: Psychological well-being (WB) includes a person?s overall appraisal of his or her life (Global WB) and affective state (Hedonic WB), and it is considered a key aspect of the health of individuals and groups. Several cross-sectional studies have documented a relation between Global WB and age. Little is known, however, about the age distribution of Hedonic WB. It may yield a different view of aging because it is less influenced by the cognitive reconstruction inherent in Global WB measures and because it includes both positive and negative components of WB. In this study we report on both Global and Hedonic WB assessed in a 2008 telephone survey of 340,847 people in the United States. Consistent with prior studies, Global WB and positive Hedonic WB generally had U-shaped age profiles showing increasedWB after the age of 50 years. However, negative Hedonic WB variables showed distinctly different and stronger patterns: Stress and Anger steeply declined from the early 20s, Worry was elevated through middle age and then declined, and Sadness was essentially flat. Unlike a prior study, men and women had very similar age profiles of WB. Several measures that could plausibly covary with the age-WB association (e.g., having children at home) did not alter the age-WB patterns. Global and Hedonic WB measures appear to index different aspects of WB over the lifespan, and the postmidlife increase in WB, especially in Hedonic WB, deserves continued exploration.

Keywords: Psychological well-being; Hedonic well-being; Global well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C83 D03 D60 D63 I00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-06
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (150)

Downloads: (external link)
https://drive.google.com/a/princeton.edu/file/d/0B ... Z0xwN0JTM0R5TjQ/view
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 400 Bad Request (https://drive.google.com/a/princeton.edu/file/d/0BwjFN4HbBrDBZ0xwN0JTM0R5TjQ/view [302 Moved Temporarily]--> https://www.google.com/a/princeton.edu/ServiceLogin?service=wise&passive=1209600&osid=1&continue=https://drive.google.com/a/princeton.edu/file/d/0BwjFN4HbBrDBZ0xwN0JTM0R5TjQ/view&followup=https://drive.google.com/a/princeton.edu/file/d/0BwjFN4HbBrDBZ0xwN0JTM0R5TjQ/view [302 Moved Temporarily]--> https://idp.princeton.edu/idp/profile/SAML2/Redirect/SSO?SAMLRequest=fVJLT8MwDL4j8R%2Bq3PvaNISitaiAEJMGVFvhwC1N3TYjTUqcbvDvyboh4MBOkb7Y38P2%2FOqjk94WDAqtEhIHEfFAcV0J1STkubjzL8lVen42R9bJnmaDbdUK3gdA67lOhXT8SMhgFNUMBVLFOkBqOV1nD0s6CSLaG20115J4i9uEdJu2F9DBhjdtzSv3CiWlbEoHlfBW94xvmrKpiPfybWuyt7VAHGCh0DJlHRRNZn409adREU9pPKPRxSvx8qPStVCHBKdslYcipPdFkfv507oYCbaiAvPoqhPSaN1ICLju9vI5QxRbB9dMIhAvQwRjncEbrXDowKzBbAWH59UyIa21PdIw3O12wQ9NyMLeCMXBahVANYSMI0nH4dIxn%2Fk11dPu2bc6Sf%2Fnn4e%2FqNPjEvfZFre5loJ%2FepmUendjgFkXzJrB5brTpmP2f%2FU4iEdEVH49ltJBYQ9c1ALc1sL0oPr3WtwNfQE%3D&RelayState=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fa%2Fprinceton.edu%2FServiceLogin%3Fservice%3Dwise%26passive%3Dtrue%26osid%3D1%26continue%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fdrive.google.com%252Fa%252Fprinceton.edu%252Ffile%252Fd%252F0BwjFN4HbBrDBZ0xwN0JTM0R5TjQ%252Fview%26followup%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fdrive.google.com%252Fa%252Fprinceton.edu%252Ffile%252Fd%252F0BwjFN4HbBrDBZ0xwN0JTM0R5TjQ%252Fview)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pri:cheawb:77

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Bobray Bordelon (bordelon@princeton.edu).