According to a recent study, people in the US today are actually happier if they possess more money. It seems that happiness and money have become more strongly linked today as opposed to in the past. The said study has been published in the journal American Psychological Association.
This latest analysis focused on 40,000 adults in the US – ages of 30 and above. Jean Twenge, who is the lead author of the study and professor of psychology at San Diego State University, said, ‘My colleague and I found an even deeper relationship between money and happiness.’
Twenge and her team’s survey covered a total of five decades – going all the way from 1972 to 20216. The team was then able to observe the change in attitude surrounding people and money over this period. It appears that, presently, money and happiness are much closely related as opposed to in the past. So yeah, maybe, money can actually buy happiness despite the famous saying after all.
Most of this higher sense of happiness linked to money can be attributed to class and education. Back in the 1970s, regardless of adults having a university degree, 40% of them classified themselves as happy. However, today, only 29% of non-graduates consider themselves to be happy, whereas those who have a degree still stand at 40%.
Happiness has grown over the course of the years, based on how much a person is earning. The study also observes that among the reasons for this change in happiness attitude is linked to the ever-increasing disparity in income inequality. The rich are richer, while the poor have become poorer. This study is an interesting study that highlights the societal changes that the US has gone through in terms of money and happiness from the 1970s until now. What do you think of this study? Do let us know!
