Researchers: Middle-aged men are happier than women

Junk science. The problem is not the observations but the correlations.

Younger men "miserable" because they are not married? Hogwash. Much more likely they are miserable, or prone to be, because of the politics of reproductive value. Younger women are more attractive generally than older women from a limbic-system standpoint only because they are more likely to reproduce. That is sexiness-- the reproductive appeal. Whether she or her mate actually want to have kids is entirely another matter. I am talking about subconscious responses, not conscious ones. Young woman = reproductive capacity high = attractive. Younger men feel less valued in society because they are less-valued than older men. Older men get happier because they finally get some appreciation for being alive. Older men are seen as being more attractive because of their reproductive value-- as potential fathers. Higher earning potential, greater relationship experience (and presumably wisdom) and greater generalized leadership capacity due to simple seniority and the tendency to deference toward older people in terms of leadership. You could almost draw a line through the graph showing general happiness/misery and it would start high for women and drop as age goes on, and the inverse for men. A great big 'X'.

But the suggestion that unmarried-ness leads to young male misery is not supported by common sense. It's being treated as less-valuable (downright dispensable when considering things like the draft) and less-desirable to have around that makes young men more prone to be miserable, and that young women are treated as valued and desirable to have around that makes them happier. [Side note: Notice TV news these days. Who is most likely o be an anchorperson or guest commentator? Younger more attractive women and older more distinguished-looking men. That is not an accident.) The diff. between how one is treated as a man at age 20 and age 40 is night and day. It gets more pronounced until a certain point, I have noticed, when things largely even out, some time at around age 65-70, coinciding with retirement age. Fancy that!

Women are happier when they're younger because people only see their outward appearance, which usually disguises their true colours. Like Matt said, young women are attractive, and for some stupid reason everybody treats young attractive women nicely, regardless of how cruel or useless they may be. When they grow older, all they have to work with is personality, and thus, they aren't respected as much b/c a lot of them are gold diggers, and or spoiled children in adult bodies. Men, on the other hand, we're treated like ATM machines and sperm banks in the younger years. It's not until you're truly appreciated as a human being with accomplishments that you can find true happiness, and I find that for us males, that takes a long time. It's as if we have to wait for women to mature to be able to see what's truly important in a person. But Matt's right. It has absolutely nothing to do with marriage.

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!