RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HAPPINESS AND LONGEVITY

Smile More, Live Longer: Desk Research on the Relationship between Happiness along with

Demographics and Longevity in the USA since the 2000s

Raul Rahimli

ADA University

20069: Writing & Info Literacy II

Gunel Karimova

14 May 2024
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Introduction

"You have to move on as God gives you life and strength. You have to keep doing what

you adore", claimed a 92-year-old Dr. Freeman, who still works as a doctor in her clinic, on the

Good Morning America program (Good Morning America, 2018). What is probably implied

here is that an individual should increase his or her level of happiness by doing what he or she

adores.

When people have tough periods and feel stressed or anxious, it can negatively affect

how long they live. Therefore, happiness positively affects and enhances longevity. An

interesting fact, provided on the Boston University website (2022), posits that every person out

of 5000 in the United States is a centenarian, i.e., someone a hundred or more years old.

Therefore, if the research is successful, most adults in the USA will be happy because they live

longer due to the correlation between happiness and longevity.

Different factors influence the relationship between happiness and longevity. The

research demonstrates that happiness depends on personal characteristics and behaviors, such as

marital status (Lawrence et al., 2015; Lawrence et al., 2018; Carr et al., 2014), trust (Miething et

al., 2020; Giordano et al., 2018; Helliwell & Wang, 2010), and other demographics, such as

gender, age, and race (Bardo & Lynch, 2018; Bardo & Cummings, 2023; Langa et al., 2005).

According to Lawrence et al. (2018), married individuals are healthier and live longer lives than

those who are divorced or never married. However, unhappy marriages are as harmful to health

as happy marriages are beneficial to it.

Referring to Giordano et al. (2018) and Miething et al. (2020), over the past two decades trust

and happiness have converged with each other, despite having various theoretical roots.

Moreover, trust is considered an independent predictor of mortality.

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Additionally, demographics, including gender, race, and age, has a huge influence on

almost all the literature provided in this research paper. The researchers, along with their main

results, provide the outcomes based on these factors, which expands the understanding of their

studies. However, Bardo & Lynch (2018) and Bardo & Cummings (2023) explore this issue in a

detailed way, providing statistics about the influence of the provided demographics on the

duration of life.

Throughout the research paper, the word longevity was utilized in every section of this

article. The definition of the term longevity is "Of a person or animal: the fact or quality of living

a long time; long life. Also: duration of life." (Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.).

Understanding the correlation between the level of happiness and how people live longer

and healthier lives is a significant issue. People should comprehend the harm of stress and

unhappiness, and start living their lives joyfully, considering the outcomes provided by the

authors. Prioritizing happiness can help everyone live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives.

So, it's essential to focus on things that make us happy, like spending time with loved ones or

doing activities we enjoy.

The purpose of this research paper is to synthesize the literature that focuses on the

relationship between happiness along with demographics and longevity, taking into

consideration the research question: "How does happiness along with demographics affect

longevity and health in the USA since the 2000s?"

Methodology

This research paper explores the relationship between longevity and happiness.

Moreover, the articles discuss this correlation using demographics, such as age, gender, race,
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marital status, health, and trust. The methodology includes a systematic review of literature,

investigating nine academic peer-reviewed empirical journal articles. Databases utilized for this

research paper are JSTOR, Research Gate, and Google Scholar. In an advanced search, I utilized

the words “longevity”, “happiness”, “demographics”, “marital status”, and “trust”, in

conjunction with “AND” Boolean operator.

Literature review

The literature supports the conception that the relationship between happiness and

longevity, while considering various factors such as gender, marital status, and health, is

profound. The researchers posit that demographics, which are being heavily debated issues, is

interconnected to life expectancy.

Marital Status

Marital happiness and status appear as a crucial factor in this relationship, according to

Lawrence et al. (2015) and Lawrence et al. (2018). Both articles suggest that people who are

married and are in a splendid relationship with each other have a lower risk of death compared to

those who are unhappy in marriage. Lawrence et al. (2015) propose that age, gender, education

level, religiosity, and income, along with marital happiness, strengthen the relationship between

longevity and happiness. An example was provided in this article, i.e., in most cases, individuals

who are older, white, married, and more educated reported being very happy. Further elaborating

on this, Lawrence et al. (2018) characterize marital happiness and status as the most crucial

factor. They indicate that individuals categorized as “very happy” and “pretty happy” have a

similar mortality risk, while people classified as “unhappy” have a higher risk. They conclude

that the correlation between marital status, happiness, and longevity is profound.
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However, Carr et al. (2014) claim that the change between the own happiness and the

partner’s joyfulness was small. Husbands’ and wives’ reports of marital quality were associated

with their life satisfaction reports. They don’t significantly differ by gender. They did not find

significant associations between partner appraisals and own well-being. The researchers

conducted a study to identify the relationship between own and spouse’s well-being. The results

demonstrate that when one’s happiness increases by 1 point, the spouse’s happiness increases by

approximately 0.52-0.72 points.

Other Demographics

Moving beyond marital status, age emerges as another crucial aspect that impacts the

correlation between longevity and happiness. The researchers Bardo & Lynch (2019) indicate

that as age increases, the relationship with longevity becomes more profound. As a result of this

article, approximately 88% of people were reported to have high levels of happiness, which is

true across ages. Adding to this discussion, another research (Bardo & Cummings, 2023) posits

that the estimated happy life expectancy depends on gender and race, along with age. They

suggest that old Black women and men live fewer remaining happy years than their White peers.

They expound on this issue because women tend to have longer happy life expectancy than men,

and racial disparities in those lives were partly explained by differences in marital status,

education, and other demographics, especially among women.

Moreover, another factor that plays a role is the health of the participants and the

impairment of their well-being. Langa et al. (2005) in their research provided a study that

examines how cognitive problems affect the lives and happiness of people. The diseases

provided in this article, such as CIND and dementia, have a huge effect on people’s lives. This
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can be displayed in various ways, such as financial situations, family relationships, and overall

quality of life, all of which affect the level of happiness of individuals.

Trust

Amongst these factors, generalized trust, which contains a belief that people, including

strangers, can be trusted, arises as a significant factor determining longevity, as researchers

suggested (Giordano et al., 2018; Miething et al., 2020). Both articles claim that trust

demonstrated a robust association with longevity. While Meithing et al. (2020) demonstrate a

significant correlation between generalized trust and cardiovascular mortality, Giordano et al.

(2018) found evidence for an affiliation between trust and longevity. This article suggests that

individuals from high-trust regions had lower mortality than those from low-trust districts. Thus,

although happiness is essential for longevity, trust becomes a factor that may have an even

stronger impact on mortality rates.

On the other hand, Helliwell & Wang (2010) posit that their results show strong links

between trust and well-being to support much more research into how trust can be built and

maintained. They claim that trust plays a huge role in making people feel good. When people

trust their co-workers, neighbors, and police, they tend to feel happier. The study suggests that

having a strong trust can make a tremendous difference in how happy and satisfied people are.

Discussion

The literature supports the notion that a significant number of factors influence the

relationship between happiness and longevity. Marital happiness and status are demonstrated as

essential elements in this correlation. Age also plays an essential role, as the correlation between

happiness and longevity strengthens and becomes more profound as age increases. Furthermore,

other demographics, such as gender and race, affect the estimated happy life expectancy. Trust is
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another essential factor that affects the lives of people. Studies indicate that higher levels of trust

are linked to lower mortality rates.

The findings suggest that individuals who are happily married and have great

relationships tend to live longer and more advantageous lives compared to those who are not.

Based on the discoveries, it can be assumed that having a happy relationship with your spouse

can aid an individual live longer. However, a fundamental idea is that marriage itself does not

guarantee happiness or longevity. The most perspective aspect is the quality of the relationship,

which profoundly influences this correlation.

The studies reviewed suggest that as people get older, the relationship between happiness

and longevity becomes stronger. Generalizing this concept, it seems to appear that the older you

are, the more important it is to focus on things that make you happy. On the other hand, factors

such as gender and race also impact how long people live. This study provided an example

where the authors concluded that Black people may live not as long and happily as their White

peers. This could be due to differences in aspects such as the level of education, health, or the

attitude of other people towards them.

The evidence suggests that trusting others, like your neighbors or co-workers, can help

individuals live longer. While trusting others, a person tends to feel happier and more satisfied

with life. Therefore, building and maintaining trust in relationships can have a huge impact on

one’s overall well-being and longevity. However, another study indicated the opposite results,

claiming that people with high levels of trust had lower mortality than those with low trust. The

reason for this seems to be that whenever people trust others and are betrayed, it can negatively

affect their well-being.

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These results seemingly imply that individuals should know how to increase their

happiness rate and live longer lives. People should prioritize happiness and live healthier and

more fulfilling lives, forgetting about stress and unhappiness. The reason for this seems to be that

life is more lovely when there is less depression and tension. Individuals have to care about their

happiness and health to live their lives fully. Therefore, by concentrating on positive

relationships and trust, people can improve their chances of living longer and more fulfilling

lives.

The key feebleness of this research is that although the methods of most of the articles

considered while exploring this research question are managed professionally, the results are not

conducted fully. They do not gather data on characteristics as time passes. Another weakness

was that the study did not cover the complexity of marriage quality. Furthermore, even if some

researchers considered a significant number of factors, there could be other characteristics, such

as personality, personal well-being, and health, that affect marital happiness and marital status.

The crucial limitation of my research was that it was hard to find the original article. On

Research Gate and JSTOR, these articles were not accessible to everyone. I asked for the file, but

the answer was provided late. Therefore, I had to seek these articles from other sites, which

provided them freely and fully.

Conclusion

The fundamental objective of the present research paper was to investigate the

interdependence of longevity and happiness from the perspectives of trust and demographics

such as age, marital status, gender, race, and health. Moreover, the purpose of this paper was to

synthesize the literature on this relationship based on the research question: “How does

happiness along with demographics affect longevity and health in the USA since the 2000s?” To
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achieve this aim, I utilized nine peer-reviewed empirical articles taken from JSTOR, Research

Gate, and Google Scholar. These articles indicate that the crucial demographics that affect the

linkage between happiness and longevity are marital status and marital happiness, age, gender,

race, and trust. The findings posit that people who are in happy relationships tend to live happier

and longer. Age also has a huge impact on this correlation, as this link strengthens as age

increases. Additionally, other studies indicate that a high level of trust is linked to a low

mortality rate; however, another result demonstrates that trust in close people can help people

live longer.

It is essential to concentrate on what makes us happy, like spending time with friends and

family or doing what we enjoy. Moreover, building trustworthy relationships is key to a happier

and longer life. In the future, people should learn more about the impact of happy marriages on

the longevity and quality of their lives. Individuals have to comprehend what makes marriages

happy and how other demographics influence it.

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References

Bardo, A. R., & Cummings, J. L. (2023). Life, Longevity, and the Pursuit of Happiness: The

Role of Disability in Shaping Racial Sex Disparities in Living a Long and Happy Life.

Population Research and Policy Review.

Bardo, A. R., & Lynch, S. M. (2019). Cognitively Intact and Happy Life Expectancy in the

United States. The Gerontological Society of America, 242-251.

Boston University. (2022, September 12). Why do some people live to 100 - and how?

https://www.bu.edu/articles/2022/why-do-people-live-to-100-and-how/

Carr, D., Freedman, V. A., Cornman, J. C., & Schwarz, N. (2014). Happy Marriage, Happy Life?

Marital Quality and Subjective Well-being in Later Life. Journal of Marriage and

Family, 930-948.

Giordano, G. N., Mewes, J., & Miething, A. (2019). Trust and All-cause Mortality: A Multilevel

Study of US General Social Survey Data (1978-2010). Epidemiol Community Health, 50-

55.

Good Morning America. (2018, August 7). 92-year-old doctor shares her secrets to a long and

happy life. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZ0mvBqCLoQ

Helliwell, J. F., & Wang, S. (2010). Trust and Well-being. National Bureau of Economic

Research, 1-44.

Langa, K. M., Plassman, B. L., Wallace, R. B., Herzog, R. A., Heeringa, S. G., Ofstedal, M.

B., . . . Willis, R. J. (2005). The Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study: Study Design

and Methods. Neuroepidemiology, 181-191.

Lawrence, E. M., Rogers, R. G., & Wadsworth, T. (2015). Happiness and Longevity in the

United States. Social Science & Medicine, 115-119.

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Lawrence, E. M., Rogers, R. G., Zajacova, A., & Wadsworth, T. (2018). Marital Happiness,

Marital Status, Health, and Longevity. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1539-1561.

Miething, A., Mewes, J., & Giordano, G. N. (2020). Trust, Happiness, and Mortality: Findings

from a Prospective US Population-based Survey. Social Science & Medicine, 1-7.

Oxford University Press. (n.d.). Longevity. In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved May 13,

2024, from https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=longevity&tl=true