Men Happier In Middle Age

**Gingersnap** · 07-30-2008, 04:03 PM

Men become happier than women by midlife

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?By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY

Women start out as happy young adults but by midlife wind up the sadder sex, says a new study on satisfaction related to financial circumstances and family life, which past research has shown play a significant role in well-being and happiness.
Researchers analyzed decades of national data on 47,000 men and women to create a statistical model that shows women's happiness decreases, while men's increases, exceeding women's by age 48.

"Our approach looks at the aspirations people have and how well they fulfill them," says economist Anke Plagnol, at the University of Cambridge in England, the study's lead author.

"Satisfaction depends on how far people fulfill their aspirations," she says.

Plagnol and co-author Richard Easterlin, an economist at the University of Southern California, used data from Roper surveys and from the General Social Survey at the University of Chicago.

The study, to be published in the next issue of the Journal of Happiness Studies, says that early in adult life, women are more likely than men to fulfill their aspirations for material goods and family life, but later, they may be divorced or separated and less financially secure. Meanwhile, men's finances and family life improve, making them "the happier of the two genders," the study says.

Interesting. Sounds like there's a big difference in expectations between the sexes. People who have unrealistic expectations always seem to be miserable.

USAToday

**YupItsMe** · 07-30-2008, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by Gingersnap

Interesting. Sounds like there's a big difference in expectations between the sexes. People who have unrealistic expectations always seem to be miserable.

USAToday

Women spend their married lives trying to change their husbands into something they are not and then are disillusioned when reality finally sets in.

**linda22003** · 07-30-2008, 05:50 PM

I must be the exception that proves the rule. I'm 53, and in the last few years life has just gotten better and better! :)

**Gingersnap** · 07-30-2008, 06:15 PM

I think that men tend to have fairly realistic expectations about marriage, family life, and work. They set the bar at an achievable level and are happier with the results and sometimes happily surprised.

Some women tend to set basically fictional goals. They will marry an adoring guy with no bad habits, they will have an exciting career (not a job), and they will produce perfect children. All the while staying hawt in bed, staying culturally hip, and staying in a size 4.

Naturally, most of them don't achieve those goals and this makes them think that their lives are basically wasted or something.

Women who have realistic goals are probably fairly happy with their lives and always have something to look forward to in the future.

**Shannon** · 07-30-2008, 06:28 PM

Isn't middle age the point where they dump their wives and start screwing 18 year olds? Of course they are happier.:p

**Gingersnap** · 07-30-2008, 06:30 PM

Originally Posted by Shannon

Isn't middle age the point where they dump their wives and start screwing 18 year olds? Of course they are happier.:p

Sure, if they are rich but all rich people are pretty happy. :D

**lacarnut** · 07-30-2008, 06:58 PM

Originally Posted by linda22003

I must be the exception that proves the rule. I'm 53, and in the last few years life has just gotten better and better! :)

That is true of most the women that I worked with that have been married and have never been divorced. A woman in mid life that gets dumped by her spouse for a younger woman turns into a raving lunatic. Even if she finds another man, she will most likely bear hatred of him forever. Conversely, a guy that this happens to will have the same feelings regarding his ex but he will try to bang a different woman every-night to make up for his inferiority complex. Divorce makes a bunch of crazies on both sides but it has been my experience men handle it better and can put it behind them quicker than women. CW may be the exception.

I think that when the kids grow up and leave the nest, that leave a big whole in a couple's life structure and affects the woman more so than the man. Women are more sensitive than men and trying to figure them out is a lesson in futility.

**linda22003** · 07-31-2008, 08:56 AM

I had the foresight to be a second wife. He was already divorced when I got him! :p

**lurkalot** · 07-31-2008, 09:10 AM

Originally Posted by lacarnut

That is true of most the women that I worked with that have been married and have never been divorced. A woman in mid life that gets dumped by her spouse for a younger woman turns into a raving lunatic. Even if she finds another man, she will most likely bear hatred of him forever. Conversely, a guy that this happens to will have the same feelings regarding his ex but he will try to bang a different woman every-night to make up for his inferiority complex. Divorce makes a bunch of crazies on both sides but it has been my experience men handle it better and can put it behind them quicker than women. CW may be the exception.

I think that when the kids grow up and leave the nest, that leave a big whole in a couple's life structure and affects the woman more so than the man. Women are more sensitive than men and trying to figure them out is a lesson in futility.

HEY! I'm a woman in mid life that was dumped for a younger woman! And I've never been happier :D
I have a wonderful child, a great career and great friends. I really think its a mindset and surrounding yourself by people who are positive and loving. Hence my friendship with Shannon :p

noonwitch · 07-31-2008, 09:56 AM

Originally Posted by lacarnut

That is true of most the women that I worked with that have been married and have never been divorced. A woman in mid life that gets dumped by her spouse for a younger woman turns into a raving lunatic. Even if she finds another man, she will most likely bear hatred of him forever. Conversely, a guy that this happens to will have the same feelings regarding his ex but he will try to bang a different woman every-night to make up for his inferiority complex. Divorce makes a bunch of crazies on both sides but it has been my experience men handle it better and can put it behind them quicker than women. CW may be the exception.

I think that when the kids grow up and leave the nest, that leave a big whole in a couple's life structure and affects the woman more so than the man. Women are more sensitive than men and trying to figure them out is a lesson in futility.

My parents got divorced after 25 years of marriage, the year my younger sister, the youngest kid, left for college. Both of them have their side to the story, but my mom had been kind of nuts for a while, my dad drank too much back then, and they had really been keeping it together for the kids for a while at that point.