Gen Zers, take note: Some boomers have found a simple path to happiness

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• The World Happiness Report found happiness among young people in North America declined.
• Older adults in the US had higher happiness levels, even though they had fewer social interactions.
• It could demonstrate the importance of fewer, but more meaningful, friendships. 

There might not be one true key to happiness — but some older Americans have found solutions to help them get there.

Loneliness and happiness are often related, and people of all ages have been battling those issues for years. The pandemic cast a harsh spotlight on loneliness, in particular, due to social isolation requirements, prompting a call for action by lawmakers and even the US surgeon general to help foster social connections and deter the negative health impacts that accompany loneliness.

The World Happiness Report, released in March, delved further into how people of all generations are experiencing loneliness and happiness globally. According to the report, happiness levels for young people — aged 15 to 24 — declined in North America since 2019, upending the U-shape theory: the idea that happiness is high for young people, it bottoms out in middle age, and it increases again at old age.

And when it comes to loneliness in the US, the younger generations were hit the hardest.

“Loneliness is almost twice as high among the Millennials than among those born before 1965,” the report said. “Millennials also feel less socially supported than Boomers in those countries, another place in which these countries look different from the rest of the world. This is despite the fact that actual social connections are much more frequent for Millennials than Boomers, and about as frequent as for Generation X.”

The report added that “those in the boomer and earlier generations feel more socially supported and less lonely than those in the younger generations despite having less frequent actual interactions with all groups except neighbours.”

A range of possibilities could explain why this might be the case. Preeti Malani, a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, previously told Business Insider that “loneliness is far, far greater among the younger group.”

“Being lonely as an 80-year-old may be due to a very different reason than someone who is a 19-year-old college student living amongst a huge group of people,” Malani said. “You can be surrounded by people and be lonely. And that college experience or high school experience is a good example where you don’t have the meaningful connections with people.”

The focus on meaningful connections might just be what splits older generations from younger generations when it comes to happiness. While some Gen Zers have spent money to make more friends through social clubs and fitness groups, older adults have told BI that for them, it’s not about the quantity of their social connections; it’s about the quality.

Susan Skinner, a 71-year-old, previously told BI that it took her a while to establish close friendships, but for her well-being and happiness, the effort is worth it.

“I can’t remember the research on how many hours together it takes to make someone a close friend, but it’s a lot,” she said. “So it’s just a matter of having someone where you could think, ‘Would this be someone I could call up and say that I’m just having a really bad day, I need to talk, or just tell me what’s going on with you,’ something like that.”

Roadblocks to happiness

Of course, finding meaningful connections and achieving happiness is easier said than done. Gen Z is entering adulthood in a difficult economy — while the pace of inflation has slowed since the pandemic began, prices are still high. Even with the hot labor market, some young people are having trouble landing a job.

On top of that, new research from the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s Institue Economic Equity found more than one in three young people aged 18 to 24 have no income at all, making it difficult for them to progress financially and budget for their futures.

That’s not to say older generations are not facing similar economic stressors. A BI/YouGov survey from July, for example, found that half of Gen Xers aged 43 to 58 do not feel financially secure, largely because they’re accruing a lot of debt.

But despite the economic headwinds, the World Happiness Report suggests younger generations could learn something from older adults about improving their overall mental health and relationships with their peers.

“To feel a sense of belonging meets an essential human need,” the report said. “Evidence shows a sense of community belonging to have a larger influence on life satisfaction and to be more prevalent at higher ages, providing yet another explanation for life evaluations that rise at higher ages.”

Maria Maki, 79, can attest. After encountering loneliness when she moved to a new city during the pandemic, she decided to connect with women in her neighborhood over coffee — and she’s since developed meaningful relationships that have made her life a lot better.

“I am happier,” Maki said. “I feel like I have a group of people I can talk to or call, and I’ve done some of the outside activities, which has been fun. I look forward to it all week, and without that, I don’t know what I’d do.”

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