5 Ways to Become Happier as You Age

The idea that midlife involves a crisis is well-entrenched in the popular media but lacks scientific support. No matter how many times researchers show that people maintain their sanity when they go through their 40s and 50s (and beyond), there still remains the idea that the downward slide into despair is a hard-wired response to reaching the midpoint of life.

A 2023 study by the University of Jyväskylä’s Emmi Reinilä and colleagues provides the latest ammunition in the attempt to remove this inaccurate portrayal of middle age from the scene. By examining adults longitudinally as they traversed the years from 42 to 61, the Finnish research team showed, once again, that continuity better fits the trajectory of personality development than does crisis. Additionally, the research team showed that of all the possible influences on well-being through this period, five stood out as most prominent in helping to promote mental health.

Generativity as a Theme of Midlife

Underlying Reinilä et al’s study is the theory of Erik Erikson, which proposes that the key issue in middle adulthood revolves around establishing a sense of generativity, as opposed to remaining in a state of stagnation. Through generativity, adults experience feelings of care and concern for the next generation (hence “genera-tivity”). Rather than being limited to the care of one’s own next generation (i.e., children), generativity involves wanting to ensure that all members of younger generations receive a fair shake in life.

Think about how you express generativity in your everyday actions. You don’t even have to be a middle-ager to know what this is like, because Erikson believed that anyone can go through this developmental process. How many times did you stop to explain something unfamiliar to a younger person? Do you have someone you are mentoring as they establish their own footing in life? You don’t have to show grand gestures to be generative, just to feel as though it’s worth investing your time and effort in helping younger individuals become more successful.

In stagnation, you do not show these behaviors. Perhaps you know someone who is constantly complaining about younger people not having the mettle of their elders (i.e., their own generation). Maybe it is a younger employee who seems pretty smart and talented but just needs some time, and advice, to become great. This stagnating individual refuses to take the time to provide some guidance, holding selfishly onto their own position.

As you can already guess, establishing a sense of generativity should theoretically be good for someone’s mental health. By facing midlife issues with this positive and optimistic sense that the world is in good hands for the future, it should be easier to adapt as life’s playbook moves ahead to later adulthood.

Testing the Generativity-Mental Health Connection

The research team used a longitudinal data set called the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, which began with 369 8-year-olds, of whom 301 were available across the span of ages 42 to 61. The main research question guiding the study was not only whether generativity would contribute to mental well-being over time (as Erikson’s theory would suggest) but also whether mental well-being could contribute to generativity.

Previous research that my coauthors and I conducted also covered this time span (Lodi-Smith et al., 2021) and showed that changes in generativity were related to changes in well-being. However, we did not have the broader range of measures available to the Finnish team, which could help address additional statistical questions about these interrelated paths.

The big advantage to the Reinilä and colleagues study was that they could examine mental health from a variety of angles, including emotional, psychological, and social. As they noted, “Thus, when mental well-being is measured multidimensionally, a lack of mental ill-being is also an essential addition to the model.” To measure generativity, the authors used a well-known 10-item scale with items such as “I am concerned about providing guidance and direction to young people.”

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Statistical modeling applied across the 19 years of the study led the authors to the ultimate conclusion that both generativity and well-being were highly stable over time (i.e., no crisis). In terms of showing whether generativity leads to higher well-being or vice versa, the results also clearly established that one facet of well-being indeed showed predictive power, that of “social” well-being.

It makes sense that feeling socially connected would help promote this feeling that the new generations not only show promise but also are deserving of support. See how you rate on these items from the original social well-being scale’s (Keyes, 1998) five components (rating each from 1 to 4):

Social integration

You feel close to other people in your community.

You see your community as a source of comfort.

Social acceptance

You believe that other people are kind.

You think that people care about other people’s problems.

Social contribution

You think your work provides an important product for society.

Your behavior has some impact on other people in your community.

Social actualization

You see society as continually evolving.

You think the world is becoming a better place for everyone.

Social coherence

You think it’s worthwhile to understand the place you live in.

You find it easy to predict what will happen next in society.

How did you do on these items? If you found yourself scratching your head and wondering how you could possibly agree with some of them, it might be time to rethink them and see if there’s any way to move up a few notches on the scale.

Making Social Integration Work for You

Perhaps you have given up on predicting how the world will turn out, especially after you’re no longer a part of it. It might be difficult for you to see other people as kind, especially in what is becoming a highly polarized society, if not world. What could help you reclaim your faith in humanity?

The Finnish study suggests that seeing yourself as an agent of change in each of these five domains could help get you back on track toward becoming more generative than stagnant. At the same time, overcoming your cynicism about the younger generation might only require some simple actions.

Reach a hand out to someone younger (a relative or not) and see what happens when you offer them guidance. Perhaps it is that bright up-and-comer in the workplace, or maybe someone you know informally in one of your leisure pursuits. At the same time as you teach them something from your own experience, maybe there’s something you can learn from them. Both of you benefit when there is this mutual sharing of knowledge and support.

To sum up, research is well beyond the point of even questioning whether there is or is not a midlife crisis. This new focus on positive and steady growth can help everyone reach a pathway toward greater fulfillment, regardless of their age or generation.

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