Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science, United States; Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, United States.
Dornsife Center for Self-Report Science, United States.
J Psychosom Res. 2017 Dec;103:22-28. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.09.016. Epub 2017 Oct 3.
Although there is evidence that evaluative subjective well-being (e.g., life satisfaction) shows a U-shaped pattern with highest satisfaction in the youngest and oldest years and lowest in the middle years of adulthood, much less is known about experiential well-being. We explore a negative indicator of experiential well-being (perceived stress), examine its association with age, and explore possible determinants of the age pattern.
Using Gallup-Healthways survey data of over 1.5 million U.S. respondents, we analyzed a question asking about stress yesterday and demographic determinants of the pattern. To confirm this pattern, data on stress was analyzed from the American Time Use Survey and data on distress was analyzed from the Health and Retirement Survey.
We show that ratings of daily, perceived stressfulness yield a paradox, with high levels from the 20's through about age 50, followed by a precipitous decline through the 70's. Data from the other two surveys confirmed the age pattern for stress. Regressions with the Gallup-Healthways data statistically controlled several third-variables, yet none substantially altered the pattern.
We argue that this new experiential well-being pattern informs us about aging in the US and the "paradox" calls out for explanation.
尽管有证据表明评价性主观幸福感（例如生活满意度）呈 U 型模式，即最年轻和最年长的年龄满意度最高，中年年龄最低，但对体验幸福感的了解要少得多。我们探讨了体验幸福感的一个负向指标（感知压力），研究其与年龄的关系，并探讨年龄模式的可能决定因素。
我们使用盖洛普-健康之路调查超过 150 万美国受访者的数据，分析了一个关于昨天压力的问题以及模式的人口统计学决定因素。为了确认这种模式，我们分析了来自美国时间使用调查的数据（关于压力）和来自健康与退休调查的数据（关于苦恼）。
我们表明，日常感知压力的评估产生了一个悖论，从 20 多岁到 50 岁左右，压力水平较高，然后在 70 多岁时急剧下降。来自其他两项调查的数据证实了压力的年龄模式。使用盖洛普-健康之路数据进行的回归统计控制了几个第三方变量，但没有一个变量显著改变了这种模式。
我们认为，这种新的体验幸福感模式为我们提供了有关美国老龄化和“悖论”的信息，需要进一步解释。
