The Origins of Happiness

Happiness at Older Ages

examined before. The social relationship and engagement fac-

tors are once again the most important. Surprisingly, changes

from being married to divorced or widowed do not relate

significantly to life- satisfaction, but there is a relatively lim-

ited number of people in this category (N = 201, 6.2%).

On the other hand, reductions in loneliness, increases in

involvement in social and other organizations, increases in

positive support, and greater cultural engagement are all

Unit

Unstandardized

coefficients (s.e.)

Change in limiting long- standing
illness (ref=stable)

1, 0

New long- standing illness 1, 0 −0.09 (.04)

No longer report long- standing
illness

1, 0 0.09 (.05)

Change in ADL$ number of dif-
ficulties (0–6)

0.04 (.02)

Change in hearing$ rating scale 0–4 0.01 (.01)

Change in eyesight$ rating scale 0–4 0.05 (.01)

Change in impaired mobility$ # of impair-
ments

0.01 (.01)

Change in pain$ 1, 0 0 (.03)

Change in sense of control$ index (1– 6) 0.02 (.01)

Cognitive function score W5$ index 0 (0)

Change in depressive symptom
CES- D W5$

index (0– 8) 0.03 (.01)

N 3,230

Adjusted R^2 0.12

$A negative value of change represents a worse evolution