The Origins of Happiness

Happiness at Older Ages

illness) and functional abilities have a stronger impact on

life- satisfaction in men than women. The one exception is

impaired mobility, which has a negative effect in women

but not in men.

Changes in Life- Satisfaction with Increasing Age

The results described in the last section were based on

cross- sectional analyses of life- satisfaction and its correlates,

so we don’t know the causal sequence. For instance, peo-

ple may have low life- satisfaction because they are in poor

health, or low life- satisfaction may influence health out-

comes. One way of exploring this issue is to study the asso-

ciation between changes in the potential determinants and

life- satisfaction over time. If, for example, a deterioration

in health or decrease in cultural activity predicts changes

in life- satisfaction, that would give us insight into the le-

vers that might be used to improve the quality of life and

Male Female

Sleep quality 0.09 (.02) 0.07 (.02)

Number of impaired mobilities −0.01 (.01) −0.03 (.01)

Urinary incontinence −0.11 (.06) −0.01 (.03)

Chronic pain 0.01 (.04) 0.005 (.033)

Sense of control W5 0.02 (.01) 0.001 (.011)

Cognitive function score W5 −0.006 (.003) −0.004 (.003)

Depressive symptom CES- D W5 −0.08 (.01) −0.06 (.01)

N 2,438 2,975

Adjusted R^2 0.30 0.34