Midlife Crisis A Global Phenomenon

The happiest times occur early and late in life while midlife proves to be a low-point, shows a new analysis of depression across the world.

Analyzing several mental health surveys including the US General Social Surveys (GSS) and the World Values Survey, researchers David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College and Andrew Oswald of Britain's Warwick University found that in both rich and poor countries, mid-life depression is common, with age 44 marking the average age at which happiness reaches a low-point regardless of wealth or children.

Worldwide, depression set in at about the same time for men and women, with men lagging slightly behind. The disparity is more pronounced in the U. S. where women's happiness was found to bottom out at age 40 compared to age 50 in men.

The good news, however, is that it's not all downhill from there. After controlling for health, seniors were found to be just as happy as their youthful counterparts. The report suggests this may be due to putting aside infeasible aspirations that brought them down in mid-life, or coming to "value [their] blessings."

FULL TEXT: Is Wellbeing U-Shaped over the Life Cycle?