More Happiness for Young People and Less for Mature Adults: Time Period Differences in Subjective Well-Being in the United

Are Americans happier, or less happy, than they used to be? The answer may depend on life stage. We examined indicators of subjective well-being (SWB) in four nationally representative samples of U.S. adolescents (aged 13–18 years, n 1.27 million) and adults (aged 18–96 years, n 54,172). Recent adolescents reported greater happiness and life satisfaction than their pre-decessors, and adults over age 30 were less happy in recent years. Among adults, the previously established positive correlation between age and happiness has dwindled, disappearing by the early 2010s. Mixed-effects analyses primarily demonstrated time period rather than generational effects. The effect of time period on SWB is about d |.13 | in most age groups, about the size of reported links between SWB and objective health, marital status, being a parent, and volunteering. Keywords happiness, subjective well-being, generations, time period, age Are Americans happier, or less happy, than they used to be? Individuals and cultures mutually shape one another (Markus & Kitayama, 2010), creating cultural change that leads to gen-erational and time period differences among individuals (Twenge, 2014). A reasonable, a priori case could be made for subjective well-being (SWB) either increasing or decreasing over the last few decades. SWB may increase due to rising median family income, larger homes, and more labor-savin