Older people have better mental well-being than 30 years ago

The results showed that men and women between the ages of 75 and 80 today experience fewer depressive symptoms than those who were between the ages of 75 and 80 in the 1990s. The differences are partly explained by the better perception of health and higher education of those born later.

“In our previous comparisons, we found that today’s older people have significantly better physical and cognitive functioning at the same age compared to people born before,” says Professor Taina Rantanen, from the School of Sport Sciences and health. “These new results complement these positive findings in terms of mental well-being.”

Today, people in their 75s and 80s are most satisfied with their lives to date. However, there was no similar difference in satisfaction with their current lives. In fact, men in their 80s who lived in the 1990s were even more satisfied with their lives today than men in their 80s today.

“These men born in 1910 had lived through hard times, which may explain their satisfaction with their lives today in the 1990s, when many things were better than before,” says postdoctoral researcher Tiia Kekäläinen.

“Individuals adapt to their situation and living conditions. Both in the 1990s and today, most older adults reported being satisfied with their current life.”

The study was carried out at the Faculty of Sports and Health Sciences and the Center for Gerontological Research at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. The first cohort consisted of 617 individuals born in 1910 and 1914 who participated in the Evergreen study in 1989-1990. The second cohort consisted of 794 people born in 1938-1939 and 1942-1943 who participated in the AGNES study in 2017-2018. In both cohorts, participants were assessed at the age of 75 or 80 years. The study was funded by the Academy of Finland and the European Research Council.