April 25, 2007 2:48 PM

Turning point ages
Posted by Douglas Eisenhartat 2:48 PM

Like to reminisce about the good old days? Do you look back fondly on your idle days of carefree youth?

Well, a Cambridge, MA-based research group has just published a new study that presents some findings on when we are happiest in life. Perhaps surprisingly, it's not just when we are younger. It's when we age, too:

Hey, guys, what about 49? Gals, what about 45?

These are the turning-point ages, according to a new study published by the Cambridge-based National Bureau of Economic Research, when American men and women, respectively, are least happy. Not necessarily sad, but least happy. After that come some 15 years of increasing happiness. Authors David Blanchflower and Andrew Oswald call it the U-shaped curve of well-being. Discovering the whys behind the pattern, they write, "seems an important task for future research."

Read the piece profiling six local individuals who have reached turning point age. Check out the companion photo gallery, too.