FAITH LAPIDUS: Surprisingly, people in their seventies and eighties were least likely to report feeling negative or harmful emotions.
Happiness was highest among the youngest adults and those in their early seventies. The study showed that men and women had similar emotional patterns as they grew older. However, women reported more sadness, stress and worry than men at all ages.
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published a report about the study.
BOB DOUGHTY: Researchers do not know why happiness increases as people get older.
One idea is that, as people age, they grow more thankful for what they have, and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
Professor Stone says the emotional patterns could be linked to changes in how people see the world, or maybe even changes in brain chemistry.
The researchers considered other possible influences, like having young children, being unemployed and being single. However, such influences did not affect the levels of happiness and well-being related to age.
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FAITH LAPIDUS: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Brianna Blake, Jim Tedder and Jerilyn Watson. Our producer was June Simms. I'm Faith Lapidus.
BOB DOUGHTY:
And I'm Bob Doughty. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.
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