Study after study across an astonishing range of socioeconomic, demographic, and life circumstances has reached the same conclusion: Happiness climbs high early in adulthood but begins to slide downward in the late thirties and early forties, dipping to a low in the fifties.6 (Blanchflower and Oswald found that “subjective well-being among American males bottoms out at an estimated 52.9 years.”7) But we recover quickly from this slump, and well-being later in life often exceeds that of our younger years.
