Happiness is U-shaped … which explains why the middle-aged are grumpy

Satisfaction with life starts to drop as early as a person's late 20s and does not begin to recover until well past 50, says Bert van Landeghem, an economist at Maastricht University in Belgium.

While young adults are carefree and full of hope for the future and the over-50s have come to terms with the trials of life, the research indicates that those in the middle feel weighed down by the demands on them.

The study found "a substantial dip in happiness during the middle of people's lives is the equivalent to becoming unemployed or losing a family member".

The conclusions come in a study of how people perceive their wellbeing. …

… Studies around the world have shown that happiness tends to dip in midlife, he said, and that this was not just a phenomenon confined to the Western world. …

As someone who has now passed fifty, no, I don't think middle-age people are grumpy … but what #&@% fool keeps doing these idiotic surveys! I can tell you that in the good ole days … 😉