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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1961)
What Makes You Happy? By JOHN E. GIBSON Here is a scientific look at the factors which affect your contentment with life Happiness has long been considered a subject for philosophers and poets. Recently, however, science has been taking a look at the matter; psy chologists and sociologists in leading universities and research foundations have been putting happiness under a microscope. To throw more light on why some people are happy and others aren't, the investigators have conducted exhaustive studies and surveys. Here are some of their findings. What percentage of Americans lire happy? A consensus of the find ings of four leading surveys on this question shows that between 50 and GO percent rate themselves as quite hap py; close to 30 percent regard them selves as only moderately happy; and slightly more than 10 percent as defi nitely unhappy. Dock the iifje al which you marry affect your happiness? It depends on whether you are a man or a woman. Studies at the University of Minne sota show that women who marry dur ing their 20s experience the greatest happiness. Those who marry at 30 or later tend to be somewhat less happy. And those who were the most un happy and dissatisfied with life were found to have married before 20. The investigators found, however, that man's age at marriage did not affect his happiness to any appreciable extent. Women who marry "too young" or "too old" tend to become the most dis satisfied when their children grow up. Women who are the same age as, or older than, their husbands tend to be unhappier than those who are younger than their husbands. They notice this particularly at middle age. The happiest husbands and wives Let spring go to your head ... buy yourself the prettiest hat you've ever seen. You deserve it! Then go one step further: let spring come to your walls. Give yourself the loveliest rooms you've ever lived or laughed in! 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At any of over 49,000 paint, hardware, lumber or department stores. Visit one near you and bring spring to your home soon! Mm - ' to 3 a IHt SHCRWIN WILLI AMS CO. ACMt QUA11IY PAINTS. INC. Cktelind Oetion JOHN LUCAS K CO, INC. PtiiUdtlptii ROGIRS PAINt PR0DUCIS. INC. ( ., I " v" :. J?f The hat is new! nillMMMimiliHmiHmilHHimiliillHMHMHUiiHHllHHiHillimiM spent the most time at home; the less happy wives wished to spend less time in work around the house; also, they wished to go out evenings while the husbands were content to stay home. Are married people happier? Gen erally they are but that doesn't mean that most bachelors and spinsters would be happier if they were married. On the contrary, studies show that most people who never marry are tempera mentally ill-suited to do so and are actually happier in the single state. Does beauty in it woman (or jsnoi looks in a mini) have any lirarin; on happiness? To find the answer t this question, investigators at bull Indiana University and the Universil; 6 Family Weekly, March 19, 1961 vl;' 1 - i The wall color too! Fresh-as -spring... I i!!l!!!i!:i!U:!H!-ii::!:H:H:H:Hi-HH!H!!!!:U!itH of Minnesota made a careful study of hundreds of couples selected from vari ous walks of life. The couples were di vided into two groups: the happy and the unhappy. Then each person was rated on a five-point "attractiveness" scale, ranging from 1, homely, to 5, ex tremely attractive. Happy and well-adjusted husbands and wives scored the highest ratings for attractiveness. This relationship between happiness and good looks was found to hold true to an even greater extent with women than it did with men. The happiest couples were those where both husband and wife were more or less equally attractive. Are men as happy as women? A nationwide poll showed that most wom en think that men lead happier and more interesting lives, and scientific studies give strong support to this view. Investigations have shown that wom en are more subject to feelings of de pression and discontent than men, and are more easily irritated and upset by commonplace annoyances. Psychologists have also found that women have a narrower range of inter ests, and tend to lack man's capacity for wholehearted enjoyment in many areas of living. Does a job affeet happiness? It has much more to do with your happiness than you may realize. If it is absorb ing, if it provides for full expression of your ability, it can make up for disap pointments in many other areas of life. If you are happy with your work, if you have found the job that's "right" for you, you are luckier than 37 percent of all Americans; for a nationwide Gal lup survey has shown that only 63 per cent of the nation's breadwinners really enjoy their work. Most of the rest told interviewers that, if they were to begin all over again, they would choose an entirely different field. This suggests that one of the most ef fective ways of protecting your happi ness is to spend plenty of time and thought in choosing your occupation. Docs income affect happiness? All studies show that the happiest people are neither rich nor poor; and that the rich would be happier if they had less, the extremely poor happier if they had more. So the happiest are in the middle-income bracket. There is little relationship for most people between how much money they earn and how much happiness they experience. What docs have a direct bearing on your happiness (and this applies to everyone) is your altitude toward mon ey. Wide-scale surveys have shown that, of the people who regard plenty of money as essential to happiness, only a small percentage rate themselves as happy; and that the men and women who regard themselves as the happiest are those who rate love and having a congenial family as far more essential to happiness than financial independence. What separates the happy from the unhappy? Regardless of a per son's status in life, or the situation in which he finds himself, he has the choice of two attitudes: being thankful for what he has, or regretting the fact that he doesn't have more. Which of the two attitudes you adopt will have a greater bearing on your happiness than any other single factor. The more often you assume the first, the happier you will be. And the more frequently you adopt the second, the more unhappy you will make yourself. This holds true whether you have much or little, whether you are famous or obscure. The choice is yours. Family Weekly, March 19, 1'Jtil 7
