Experts: Middle Age is Depressing

According to a comprehensive study of data from 80 countries, researchers at Britain's Warwick University and America's Dartmouth College have confirmed what people in their forties have known for years, middle age is indeed truly miserable. Researchers discovered that "for both men and women the probability of depression peaks around 44 years of age. In the US they found a significant difference between men and women with unhappiness reaching a peak at around 40 years of age for women and 50 years of age for men. "University of Warwick Economist Professor Andrew Oswald said:

"Some people suffer more than others but in our data the average effect is large. It happens to men and women, to single and married people, to rich and poor, and to those with and without children. Nobody knows why we see this consistency."

"What causes this apparently U-shaped curve, and its similar shape in different parts of the developed and even often developing world, is unknown. However, one possibility is that individuals learn to adapt to their strengths and weaknesses, and in mid-life quell their infeasible aspirations. Another possibility is that cheerful people live systematically longer. A third possibility is that a kind of comparison process is at work in which people have seen similar-aged peers die and value more their own remaining years. Perhaps people somehow learn to count their blessings."

"It looks from the data like something happens deep inside humans. For the average person in the modern world, the dip in mental health and happiness comes on slowly, not suddenly in a single year. Only in their 50s do most people emerge from the low period. Perhaps realizing that such feelings are completely normal in midlife might even help individuals survive this phase better."

Scientists have only recently begun to tackle middle age issues with the same vigor as the physiological changes of other periods. The changes of puberty and adolescence have been well documented, in part because the changes are so evident--even on an individual level. However only through studying large numbers of people, as was this study, do the dramatic patterns of middle age appear. Charting happiness shows a "U-shaped curve" with relative highs at the beginning of life (the joys of youth) and at the end of life (the golden years), but with a very clear low period during middle age.

The research was aimed at identifying unhappiness patterns but it was not structured to pinpoint causes leaving researchers to hypothesize why midlife is so darn tough. One of theories is that middle age begins with the realization that one won't achieve all of one's aspirations and then ends after "seeing their fellow middle-aged peers begin to die" therefore kicking off a period where they value their own remaining years and embrace life once more. If true, this would explain why people who express gratitude and people who are goal-oriented (especially so-called "self-concordant" goals) generally record higher happiness levels.

Another contributing cause could be the large number of life changes that can happen during this period. In the span of just a decade individuals can experience empty nest, elder care/loss of parent, divorce/marital issues, forced job change, financial pressure, menopause/andropause, and possibly serious illness. This is also the time that looking in the mirror can highlight the effects that the passage of time has had on our appearance. We might have the psychological strength to handle one or two of these but the cumulative effect of too many of them might simply be too much.

The good news, and this was true across almost all 80 countries in the study, is that if you make it to aged 70 and are still physically fit, your are on average as "happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year old."

Additional reading: "Midlife Suicide Rising"

The new findings to be published in the journal Social Science & Medicine and were also reported in Reuters.

Story tip: Aging Backwards