科普：什么年龄最快乐？

导语：虽然每个人生阶段都有各自的苦恼，但回首过往，只有童年是最为快乐和无忧无虑，只有童年，才会高兴得手舞足蹈，欢乐得溢于言表。只有童年，快乐和悲伤来得才如此简单，一颗棒棒糖可以破涕为笑，一次老师的责罚可以垂头丧气，一辆玩具车可以兴高采烈，一次摔倒可以嚎啕大哭。只有童年，才如此的纯粹。

整理：2023年11月12日于云南财经大学伍谢瑞芝楼

Ages When People Are Happiest

来源: https://engoo.com/

Do you ever think you were happiest as a child? A new study has found this may be true —but while you may be less cheerful as you get older, you may also be more satisfied with life.

你是否认为自己小时候最快乐？一项新的研究发现这可能是真的——虽然随着年龄的增长，人们可能会变得没有那么开朗了，但也有可能会对生活更加满意。

Researchers in Germany and Switzerland looked at data from previous studies with a total of over 460,000 participants. They were interested in how satisfied people said they were with their lives, and also in something called "positive affect" and "negative affect."

德国和瑞士的研究人员查看了以往的研究数据，共有超过46万人参与了这些研究。此次研究人员关注的是人们对自己生活的满意程度，以及被称为“积极情绪”和“消极情绪”的方面。

Positive affect is a term used in psychology to talk about how people feel cheerful and happy emotions, while negative affect is used for feelings like anger, fear and sadness.

积极情绪为心理学中的一个术语，用于描述人们如何感受到开朗和快乐的情绪，而消极情绪则用于描述愤怒、恐惧和悲伤等情绪。

It was found that while people tended to be most cheerful as children, they became more satisfied with their lives as they got older —until they got very old, at which point they became less satisfied and less happy too.

研究发现，虽然人们在孩童时期往往最为开朗，但随着年龄的增长，他们对生活的满意度会越来越高；直到年纪已经很大了，满意度和幸福感还是会随之降低的。

From the data, the researchers found that life satisfaction decreased from age 9 to 16, then increased a little until age 70, and decreased again until age 96 —the oldest age for which data was available.

研究人员从数据中发现，9岁到16岁时，人们对生活满意度有所下降；而70岁之前略有上升，96 岁之前又有所下降（这是有数据可查的最高年龄）。

But positive affect —or cheerfulness —decreased almost continuously from age 9 to age 94.

但是，9岁到94岁期间积极情绪（开朗情绪）几乎在不断下降。

Negative affect went up and down between ages 9 and 22, but then decreased until age 60. After that, it increased again until age 87.

9至22岁期间，消极情绪则时高时低，但在60岁之前有所下降。之后，消极情绪会再次上升，直到87岁。

The researchers noted that changes in life satisfaction tended to be smaller than changes in positive and negative affect.

研究人员注意到，人们对生活满意度的变化往往小于积极和消极情绪的变化。

The decrease in life satisfaction between ages 9 and 16 were probably due to the physical and social changes of puberty, the researchers said.

研究人员称，9至16岁期间生活满意度的下降可能是由于青春期的生理和社会变化造成的。

Meanwhile, the decrease in satisfaction and increase in negative affect among the very old were likely connected to the health problems of old age, as well as decreasing social interaction.

与此同时，老年人生活满意度的下降和消极情绪的增加可能与老年人的健康问题以及社会交往的减少有关。

The study authors wrote that their results show that programs to help people feel happier later in life could be useful.

研究报告的作者写道，他们的研究结果表明，帮助人们在晚年生活中感到更快乐的计划可能是有用的。