This morning, Scioto Analysis released a report on subjective wellbeing in Ohio. Using a survey of over 600 people from across the state, we explore how people assess the quality of their own lives through questions such as “How happy were you yesterday?”
We find that among our survey respondents, there is a positive correlation between happiness and age, meaning that younger respondents were less happy than older respondents. This challenges the hypothesis that happiness follows a U-shaped curve over the lifespan, where people are the least happy during middle age.
“For years, self-reported happiness across the world followed a ‘U-shaped curve,’ with younger and older adults happier than middle-age adults,” said Scioto Analysis Principal Rob Moore, “this analysis is the newest in a series of studies finding lower levels of happiness for young adults in North America.”
Previous studies that found lower levels of happiness among young people were the 2022 US Happiness Report and the 2024 World Happiness Report.
When asked about what things make people happy, the majority of respondents reported that relationships and social connections were key contributors to happiness. Other important factors were health, and creativity/hobbies.
Respondents that reported fairly high levels of happiness overwhelmingly indicated that relationships and social connections were drivers of happiness. This could suggest that among younger people, feelings of loneliness are contributing to the disappearance of the U-shaped happiness curve.
Scioto Analysis partnered with Ohio State University’s Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainability program to conduct this study. Data collection and analysis was conducted by students in the program.