McMansions and Porsches Not Doing the Trick for Boomers

A University of Chicago study on happiness that's been called "one of the most thorough examinations of happiness ever done in America" has found that the oldest Americans are also the happiest, and that different population groups reach greater and more equal happiness levels as they age. Among its other reported findings: African Americans are less happy than white people, men are less happy than women (a topic that's been discussed at length recently), and happiness levels can "rise and fall between eras." Also among the findings: Despite their advancing age, which would seem to bring increased happiness, baby boomers, even with their high earning power and societal influence, are less happy than all the other generations surveyed. The data set, gathered by the General Social Survey of the National Opinion Research Center, consists of a single face-to-face question put to a cross section of the population periodically since 1972: ...