Citation

Hudson NW, Lucas RE, Donnellan MB. Psychol. Aging 2016; 31(8): 847-861.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/pag0000138

PMID

27929340 PMCID

Abstract

A large body of previous research suggests that people's global evaluations of their well-being tend to increase as a function of age. Fewer studies, however, have examined the extent to which people's in vivo experiences of well-being (e.g., felt emotions) vary as a function of age-and the existing findings are mixed. The present study used an approximately nationally representative sample of more than 2,500 Germans to evaluate developmental patterns in both experiential and global well-being using cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. The cross-sectional and longitudinal findings converged on the idea that affect-whether positive or negative, global or experiential-decreases as a function of age and time. In contrast, life satisfaction appears to remain consistent, or perhaps decline across midlife before rebounding in old age. These findings suggest that affective well-being may develop in a nuanced way across adulthood: Negative affect appears to ebb with age-but so does positive affect. (PsycINFO Database Record

Language: en

Keywords

Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Cross-Sectional Studies; Emotions; Female; Germany; Human Development; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle Aged; Personal Satisfaction; Young Adult