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Division of Aging and Adult Services PO Box 1437 Slot S-530 Little Rock AR 72203 Contact DHS Division of Aging and Adult Services PO Box 1437 Slot S-530 Little Rock AR 72203 DHS Divisions and Offices Director Chief Counsel Aging & Adult Services Behavioral Health Services Child Care Children & Family County Operations Disabilities Finance & Administration Medical Services Services for the Blind Systems/Technology Volunteerism Youth Services General Information DAAS Directory State Telephone Directory Federal Links FirstGov for Seniors US Health & Human Services Administration on Aging Eldercare Locator Arkansas Links State Home Page Parks & Tourism Dept DHS Home Page DAAS Home Page		By Herb Sanderson, Director Division of Aging & Adult Services This column appears in the May 2008 edition of Aging Arkansas, a publication of the Arkansas Aging Foundation. With Age Comes Happiness Americans become happier as they age, according to a new University of Chicago sociological study. A second report finds older Americans are vital and active members of society. The following is a summary of the reports provided by the American Sociological Association. The study, published in the April issue of the American Sociological Review, claims to be one of the most thorough examinations of happiness in America. It found that baby boomers are not as content as other generations, blacks are less happy than whites, women are happier than men, happiness can rise and fall between eras, and that, as people age, their happiness increases while the differences between genders and ethnic groups narrow. “Understanding happiness is important to understanding quality of life. The happiness measure is a guide to how well society is meeting people’s needs,” said Yang Yang, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and author of the article, “Social Inequalities in Happiness in the United States, 1972-2004: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis.” The study is based on data from the National Science Foundation-supported (GSS) of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Since 1972, the General Social Survey has asked a scientifically selected cross-section of Americans this same question: “Taken all together, how would you say things are these days—would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy or not too happy?” The question is administered with other queries in face-to-face interviews of between about 1,500 to 3,000 people, resulting in data that social scientists consider the gold standard of happiness research. Yang charted happiness across age and racial groups and found that among 18-year-olds, white women are the happiest, with a 33 percent probability of being very happy, followed by white men (28 percent), black women (18 percent) and black men (15 percent). Differences vanish over time, however, as happiness increases. Black men and black women have just more than a 50 percent chance of being very happy by their late 80s, while white men and white women are close behind. The increase in happiness with age is consistent with the “age as maturity hypothesis,” Yang said. With age comes positive psychosocial traits, such as self-integration and self-esteem; these signs of maturity could contribute to a better sense of overall well-being. In addition, group differences in happiness decrease with age due to the equalization of resources that contribute to happiness, such as access to health care, including Medicare and Medicaid, and the loss of social support due to the deaths of spouses and friends, Yang added. The time span of the survey also helped determine how different people in the same generational group fared. The baby boom generation (born from 1946 to1964) was the least happy among those surveyed. “This is probably due to the fact that the generation as a group was so large, and their expectations were so great, that not everyone in the group could get what he or she wanted as they aged due to competition for opportunities. This could lead to disappointment that could undermine happiness,” Yang said. On another measure, Yang found that happiness in the country is not static. Reviewing the study’s 33-year period, she noticed definite upticks when the nation flourished economically. One reason for Older Americans happiness may be found in a second study from the University of Chicago that finds retired people, rather than being marginalized, remain vital and active members of society as they age. Although older individuals have fewer intimate relationships, the study indicates that they may respond to social loss by becoming more likely to volunteer; attend religious services; and spend time with their neighbors than people in their 50s. “People’s social networks will inevitably shrink a little as they retire, as they begin to experience bereavements, and so on. This is the source of the ‘isolated elderly’ stereotype,” said Benjamin Cornwell, postdoctoral fellow in the Center on Demography and Economics of Aging at the University of Chicago, and the lead author of the paper, “The Social Connectedness of Older “But that stereotypical image really falls apart when we broaden our conception of social connectedness,” Cornwell said. “By examining other forms of social involvement, the research indicated that older adults are more socially engaged in the community than we thought.” The study is the first systematic, nationally representative look at social network connectedness among older Americans. Among the findings: About three-quarters of older adults between the ages of 57 and 85 socialize with their neighbors; attend religious services; volunteer; or attend meetings of other organized groups at least weekly. Those in their 80s were twice as likely as those in their late 50s to engage in one of these activities so frequently. While about 50 percent of those in their 70s and 80s socialize with their neighbors on at least a weekly basis, about 40 percent of people in their late 50s and 60s do. In fact, people in their early 80s are more than twice as likely to socialize with their neighbors as those in their late 50s. About 50 percent of those in their 70s and 80s attend religious services at least weekly, compared to 40 percent of people in their late 50s and 60s. People in their 70s are twice as likely to attend religious services on at least a weekly basis as people in their late 50s, and those in their 80s are nearly 50 percent more likely to do so. About 22 percent of people in their 70s and 80s volunteer on a weekly basis, compared to about 17 percent of those in their older 50s. People in their 70s and 80s are about 36 percent more likely to volunteer on at least a weekly basis than people in their late 50s. Cornwell co-authored the study with Edward O. Laumann, the George Herbert Mead Distinguished Service professor of sociology at the University of Chicago; and L. Philip Schumm, staff statistician, Department of Health Studies, University of Chicago. Laumann said that the research provides a new way of looking at how people relate to society as they age. He asserts that increased social involvement of older Americans compared to baby boomers (many of whom are now in their late 50s) can’t necessarily be attributed to increases in leisure time or a different generational perspective. “In this light, we may better understand the greater involvement of the oldest adults in civic activities not as an outcome of generational differences in community commitment or civic spirit, but as an effort to regain control over their social environments,” said Laumann. “The new image of the older American is this: Far from being helpless isolates, they are actually extraordinary adaptive creatures,” Cornwell said. “Not only are older adults extraordinarily adaptive to social loss, but they may also be more proactive than younger adults in establishing ties to the community. In short, they appear to be more socially engaged.” Division of Aging and Adult Services Herb Sanderson, Director PO Box 1437 - Slot S-530 Little Rock AR 72203-1437 Telephone: (501) 682-2441 Fax: (501) 682-8155

This column appears in the May 2008 edition of Aging Arkansas,
a publication of the Arkansas Aging Foundation.

Americans become happier as they age, according to a new University of Chicago sociological study. A second report finds older Americans are vital and active members of society. The following is a summary of the reports provided by the American Sociological Association.

The study, published in the April issue of the American Sociological Review, claims to be one of the most thorough examinations of happiness in America. It found that baby boomers are not as content as other generations, blacks are less happy than whites, women are happier than men, happiness can rise and fall between eras, and that, as people age, their happiness increases while the differences between genders and ethnic groups narrow.

“Understanding happiness is important to understanding quality of life. The happiness measure is a guide to how well society is meeting people’s needs,” said Yang Yang, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and author of the article, “Social Inequalities in Happiness in the United States, 1972-2004: An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis.”

The study is based on data from the National Science Foundation-supported (GSS) of the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Since 1972, the General Social Survey has asked a scientifically selected cross-section of Americans this same question: “Taken all together, how would you say things are these days—would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy or not too happy?” The question is administered with other queries in face-to-face interviews of between about 1,500 to 3,000 people, resulting in data that social scientists consider the gold standard of happiness research.

Yang charted happiness across age and racial groups and found that among 18-year-olds, white women are the happiest, with a 33 percent probability of being very happy, followed by white men (28 percent), black women (18 percent) and black men (15 percent).

Differences vanish over time, however, as happiness increases. Black men and black women have just more than a 50 percent chance of being very happy by their late 80s, while white men and white women are close behind.

The increase in happiness with age is consistent with the “age as maturity hypothesis,” Yang said. With age comes positive psychosocial traits, such as self-integration and self-esteem; these signs of maturity could contribute to a better sense of overall well-being. In addition, group differences in happiness decrease with age due to the equalization of resources that contribute to happiness, such as access to health care, including Medicare and Medicaid, and the loss of social support due to the deaths of spouses and friends, Yang added.

The time span of the survey also helped determine how different people in the same generational group fared. The baby boom generation (born from 1946 to1964) was the least happy among those surveyed.

“This is probably due to the fact that the generation as a group was so large, and their expectations were so great, that not everyone in the group could get what he or she wanted as they aged due to competition for opportunities. This could lead to disappointment that could undermine happiness,” Yang said.

On another measure, Yang found that happiness in the country is not static. Reviewing the study’s 33-year period, she noticed definite upticks when the nation flourished economically.

One reason for Older Americans happiness may be found in a second study from the University of Chicago that finds retired people, rather than being marginalized, remain vital and active members of society as they age.

Although older individuals have fewer intimate relationships, the study indicates that they may respond to social loss by becoming more likely to volunteer; attend religious services; and spend time with their neighbors than people in their 50s.

“People’s social networks will inevitably shrink a little as they retire, as they begin to experience bereavements, and so on. This is the source of the ‘isolated elderly’ stereotype,” said Benjamin Cornwell, postdoctoral fellow in the Center on Demography and Economics of Aging at the University of Chicago, and the lead author of the paper, “The Social Connectedness of Older

“But that stereotypical image really falls apart when we broaden our conception of social connectedness,” Cornwell said. “By examining other forms of social involvement, the research indicated that older adults are more socially engaged in the community than we thought.”

The study is the first systematic, nationally representative look at social network connectedness among older Americans. Among the findings:

About three-quarters of older adults between the ages of 57 and 85 socialize with their neighbors; attend religious services; volunteer; or attend meetings of other organized groups at least weekly. Those in their 80s were twice as likely as those in their late 50s to engage in one of these activities so frequently.
While about 50 percent of those in their 70s and 80s socialize with their neighbors on at least a weekly basis, about 40 percent of people in their late 50s and 60s do. In fact, people in their early 80s are more than twice as likely to socialize with their neighbors as those in their late 50s.
About 50 percent of those in their 70s and 80s attend religious services at least weekly, compared to 40 percent of people in their late 50s and 60s. People in their 70s are twice as likely to attend religious services on at least a weekly basis as people in their late 50s, and those in their 80s are nearly 50 percent more likely to do so.
About 22 percent of people in their 70s and 80s volunteer on a weekly basis, compared to about 17 percent of those in their older 50s. People in their 70s and 80s are about 36 percent more likely to volunteer on at least a weekly basis than people in their late 50s.

Cornwell co-authored the study with Edward O. Laumann, the George Herbert Mead Distinguished Service professor of sociology at the University of Chicago; and L. Philip Schumm, staff statistician, Department of Health Studies, University of Chicago.

Laumann said that the research provides a new way of looking at how people relate to society as they age. He asserts that increased social involvement of older Americans compared to baby boomers (many of whom are now in their late 50s) can’t necessarily be attributed to increases in leisure time or a different generational perspective.

“In this light, we may better understand the greater involvement of the oldest adults in civic activities not as an outcome of generational differences in community commitment or civic spirit, but as an effort to regain control over their social environments,” said Laumann.

“The new image of the older American is this: Far from being helpless isolates, they are actually extraordinary adaptive creatures,” Cornwell said. “Not only are older adults extraordinarily adaptive to social loss, but they may also be more proactive than younger adults in establishing ties to the community. In short, they appear to be more socially engaged.”

Division of Aging and Adult Services
Herb Sanderson, Director
PO Box 1437 - Slot S-530
Little Rock AR 72203-1437
Telephone: (501) 682-2441
Fax: (501) 682-8155