Wall Street Journal - Frontlines - Feeling Happy or Not So Much?

Feeling Happy, or Not So Much?

With the financial markets in turmoil, people may not have a lot to smile about these days. But our happiness - or lack thereof - may well run deeper than what's going on in our immediate surroundings.

According to a 2005 Pew Research Center survey, 15% of adults in the U.S. are not happy. That's 35 million Americans.

Anke Plagnol, research associate at the University of Cambridge and Richard Easterlin, an economist at the University of Southern California, found that "early in adult life women are more satisfied than men with their family life and finances." But later in life, "men feel better about their family and financial circumstance and are the happier of the two."

According to the two researchers behind the 2008 study, "Aspirations, Attainments, and Satisfaction: Life Cycle Differences Between American Women and Men," this is because women are much more likely to achieve their aspirations and attainments early in life while men are more able to do so as they age. The genders switch feelings of happiness and satisfaction in life based on family, financial situation and material gain.

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