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Is happiness u-shaped in age everywhere? A methodological reconsideration for Europe

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  • David Bartram

Abstract

A recent contribution to research on age and well-being (Blanchflower 2021) found that the impact of age on happiness is "u-shaped" virtually everywhere: happiness declines towards middle age and subsequently rises, in almost all countries. This paper evaluates that finding for European countries, considering whether it is robust to alternative methodological approaches. The analysis here excludes control variables that are affected by age (noting that those variable are not themselves antecedents of age) and uses data from the entire adult age range (rather than using data only from respondents younger than 70). I also explore the relationship via models that do not impose a quadratic functional form. The paper shows that these alternate approaches do not lead us to perceive a u-shape "everywhere": u-shapes are evident for some countries, but for others the pattern is quite different.

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  • David Bartram, 2021. "Is happiness u-shaped in age everywhere? A methodological reconsideration for Europe," Papers 2108.13671, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2022.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2108.13671
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Edsel L. Beja, 2018. "The U-shaped relationship between happiness and age: evidence using world values survey data," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1817-1829, July.
    2. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2009. "The U-Shape without Controls," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 896, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    3. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1733-1749, April.
    4. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2009. "The U-shape without controls: A response to Glenn," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 486-488, August.
    5. Glenn, Norval, 2009. "Is the apparent U-shape of well-being over the life course a result of inappropriate use of control variables? A commentary on Blanchflower and Oswald (66: 8, 2008, 1733-1749)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 481-485, August.
    6. Athena Engman, 2013. "Is there life after P>0.05? Statistical significance and quantitative sociology," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 257-270, January.
    7. Easterlin, Richard A., 2006. "Life cycle happiness and its sources: Intersections of psychology, economics, and demography," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 463-482, August.
    8. Hudomiet, Péter & Hurd, Michael D. & Rohwedder, Susann, 2021. "The age profile of life satisfaction after age 65 in the U.S," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 431-442.
    9. Andrew Bell & Kelvyn Jones, 2018. "The hierarchical age–period–cohort model: Why does it find the results that it finds?," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 783-799, March.
    10. Kassenboehmer, Sonja C. & Haisken-DeNew, John P., 2012. "Heresy or enlightenment? The well-being age U-shape effect is flat," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 235-238.
    11. David G. Blanchflower, 2021. "Is happiness U-shaped everywhere? Age and subjective well-being in 145 countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(2), pages 575-624, April.
    12. David Bartram, 2021. "Cross-Sectional Model-Building for Research on Subjective Well-Being: Gaining Clarity on Control Variables," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(2), pages 725-743, June.
    13. de Ree, Joppe & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Life satisfaction and age: Dealing with underidentification in age-period-cohort models," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 177-182, July.
    14. Seppo Laaksonen, 2018. "A Research Note: Happiness by Age is More Complex than U-Shaped," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(2), pages 471-482, February.
    15. Felix Bittmann, 2021. "Beyond the U-Shape: Mapping the Functional Form Between Age and Life Satisfaction for 81 Countries Utilizing a Cluster Procedure," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(5), pages 2343-2359, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. David Bartram, 2022. "The ‘Gender Life-Satisfaction/Depression Paradox’ Is an Artefact of Inappropriate Control Variables," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 1061-1072, December.

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