Subjective wellbeing, health, and ageing.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Prospective cohort analysis (ELSA) and multi-country cross-sectional survey analysis (Gallup World Poll) embedded in a review.
PubMed 25468152 · doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61489-0
What was done
The authors reviewed research on subjective wellbeing (evaluative, hedonic, and eudemonic) and conducted new empirical analyses. They evaluated age-related patterns of evaluative wellbeing across more than 160 countries using the Gallup World Poll and evaluated the relationship between eudemonic wellbeing and survival over an average 8.5-year follow-up in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), adjusting for age, sex, demographic factors, and baseline mental and physical health.
What was found
In high-income English-speaking countries, evaluative wellbeing showed a U-shaped pattern across age, reaching a nadir between ages 45 and 54 years. In contrast, wellbeing progressively declined with age in the former Soviet Union, eastern Europe, and Latin America, while showing little age-related change in sub-Saharan Africa. In the ELSA cohort analysis, 29.3% of participants in the lowest quartile of eudemonic wellbeing died over an average 8.5-year follow-up compared with 9.3% in the highest quartile, an association that persisted after multivariable adjustment.
Why it matters
The findings demonstrate that the midlife dip in wellbeing is not a universal human pattern and suggest that purpose and meaning in life (eudemonic wellbeing) independently predict longevity in older adults.
Limits
Total participant sample sizes for the datasets are not specified in the abstract. The survival findings are observational, precluding causal inference despite baseline health adjustments. Mechanisms linking eudemonic wellbeing to reduced mortality and explanations for cross-national differences remain unconfirmed.
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