Women end up less happy than men

[Demeter]

http://www.physorg.com/news136557147.html

Less able to achieve their life goals, women end up unhappier than men later in life – even though they start out happier, reveals new research by Anke Plagnol of the University of Cambridge, and University of Southern California economist Richard Easterlin. Plagnol and Easterlin's study, forthcoming in the Journal of Happiness Studies, is the first to use nationally representative data spanning several decades to examine the role of unfulfilled desires in a person's sense of well-being. As the researchers explain, expectations of success may vary among those raised in different generations (i.e., an economic depression). Data sets from a range of time periods may also have different demographic compositions. In their analysis, the researchers control for birth cohort and demographic characteristics such as race and education. They find that women are, on average, happier than men in early adulthood – but the glow wears off with time. Specifically, after the age of 48, men's overall happiness exceeds women's happiness. These gender patterns of overall happiness correlate to patterns in two significant aspects of life satisfaction: family and finances. As Plagnol explains: In later life it is "men come closer to fulfilling their aspirations, are more satisfied with their family lives and financial situations, and are the happier of the two."


Women and men have fairly similar life goals when it comes to love, the study reveals. Nine out of 10 people of both genders reach adult life wanting a happy marriage. "Differences between men and women in aspirations for marriage and children are fairly small," says Plagnol, who received her Ph.D. from USC in 2007. "Gender differences in satisfaction depend largely on attainment."
The saddest period of the average man's life – his 20s – is also the period when he is most likely to be single. Young men are also more dissatisfied than young women with their financial situations, not because they are worse off, but because they want more and therefore experience a greater "shortfall," the researchers explain. But age alters many things, including men's money woes and lackluster love lives. After 34, men are more likely to be married than women, and the gap only widens with age, mirroring men's growing satisfaction with family life. Men also become more satisfied with their financial situations over time, as reflected in their increased spending power. The researchers found that men tend to covet big-ticket items that might not be within reach until later in life, such as a car or vacation home.



These findings are consistent with an earlier study by Easterlin showing that recent generations are less satisfied than previous generations, despite having more. "Of course, one doesn't have to be married to be happy, but if that's something you really want – and it is for most people – then the failure to attain it can have an impact on your overall happiness," Plagnol says, adding that those in a relationship also tend to be in a stronger financial position than those who must depend solely on their own resources.

Some age milestones:

-- 41: Age at which men's financial satisfaction exceeds women's financial satisfaction
-- 48: Age at which men's overall happiness exceeds women's overall happiness
-- 64: Age at which men's satisfaction with family life exceeds women's satisfaction

Citation: Plagnol, Anke C. and Richard A. Easterlin, "Aspirations, Attainments, and Satisfaction: Life Cycle Differences Between American Women and Men." Journal of Happiness Studies; DOI: 10.1007/s10902-008-9106-5.

Source: University of Southern California

[GoesTo11]

1. Might just be due to widowhood and divorce

Divorce we know hits women harder than men, and as time goes on, more of an age cohort goes through it.

Far more women become widows than men become widowers. Widows would report lower family happiness than men or women who are in a married couple, while the dead spouse doesn't count in the statistics at all.

I bet that if they just sampled people in long-term marriages, the effect would disappear.

Yeah, career tracks differ too, but heck, jobs over 50 these days aren't always the most satisfying for men or women.

I wouldn't read a lot of Betty Friedan into it the way this study was designed.

[Demeter]

2. The Point Is: In the Battle of the Sexes, Men are Winning

and women are losing, when the joys of life need to be shared among all groups.

Yes, divorce and widowhood, and the increasingly large numbers of ineligible men at every age (for whatever reason unfit to marry) are an ever-growing burden on the population of single women.

Still, there can and should be some equity in the financial aspects. Society cannot provide mates, but it can provide economic justice.

[Triana]

5. Economic justice for women is key and would undoubtedly level this out. n/t

[Ellen Forradalom]

7. Simple enough

but apparently a big no-no. They never run out of excuses not to implement economic parity for women. :eyes:

[Warpy]

3. ...Or if they sampled singles separately, too

Earlier surveys reported single women happier than married women, married men happiest of all and single men unhappiest of all.

Happiness is a relative thing and there is nothing like a recent loss to kill it for a time. The other killjoy for women is retirement of a spouse. Most women have no clue what to do with him and wish he weren't underfoot 24/7.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

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[bemildred]

6. Everyone winds up dead, you know.

This study about marginal statistical differences in perceived happiness seem like sexist drivel to me.