LIFE SUCCESS AND SATISFACTION
Life satisfaction, which can be defined as general happiness or wellbeing, is related to several demographic and personal qualities. The factor of age is important because the elements that make up life satisfaction may differ from one age to the next. Income is more likely to predict life satisfaction among middle-aged and older adults than among young adults. Health is a more significant predictor of happiness among older adults than among the young or the middle-aged. However, average levels of life satisfaction do not change significantly with age. Generally speaking, older adults are as satisfied with their lives as are younger or middle-aged adults.
There is no single element that guarantees high life satisfaction for everyone who possesses it. Happiness seems to consist of many things that each person weighs differently, such as income, education, work, and relationships. However, certain factors are reliable predictors of life satisfaction. One such predictor is health, especially one’s perception of one’s own health rather than a doctor’s objective health assessment. Another predictor of life satisfaction is a feeling of being in charge of one’s own life and a sense of authority over one’s own decisions. Adults who feel that they have some choices and options are generally happier than those who feel that their lives are controlled by others or by fate or chance. For example, older adults who experience financial strain feel less life satisfaction mainly because the problem signals a loss of control over their lives.
The largest predictor of life satisfaction appears to be the adequacy of social relationships, especially marriage and family relationships. The perceived quality rather than the quantity of social interactions is most strongly related to happiness. Satisfaction with one’s close personal relationships is more closely linked to overall life satisfaction than either demographic factors or satisfaction with other key aspects of adult life such as occupation. This is true even among highly educated men, who typically have a very high commitment to their work. The quality of social support available in one’s key relationships affects the ability to handle stress and life changes as well as one’s ongoing level of life satisfaction.
Studies suggest that family background and early-adulthood resources are predictors of psychological health or success at midlife. People who age well are those who start out well. (1) One study showed that the happiest and most successful middle-aged adults had grown up in warm, supportive, intellectually stimulating families. (2) Well-adjusted or successful middle-aged adults began adulthood with more personal resources, including better psychological and physical health at college age. (3) They also had been practical and well organized in college and had shown greater intellectual competence. (4)
However, no measure of early family environment or early-adult competence remained a significant predictor of psychological wellbeing at the end of middle age. One study of men revealed that at the age of 65, there were no childhood or early-adulthood characteristics that distinguished between men who had turned out well and those who had not. However, what did predict success and wellbeing at age 65 was the men’s health and adjustment at midlife. These results suggest that a successful adult life is not something preordained from childhood or early adulthood but rather something created out of the opportunities available over the course of one’s life. Late-life success is related more directly to midlife qualities or experiences. People who start out with certain advantages have a greater chance of experiencing further advantages; however, it is what one does with the experiences—both positive and negative—that determines long-term life satisfaction. The choices that people make in early adulthood help shape who they are at midlife, and those midlife qualities in turn influence who they become later in life.
Glossary:
demographic: relating to demography, the study of human populations