Of the factors researchers have identified as being associated with unhappiness, five predominate. Trends in the United States over the past 50 years correspond to four of them. That may go a long way toward explaining the stagnation and subsequent decline of happiness levels during that period. It also suggests that individuals who want to minimize unhappiness should, when possible, buck these trends:
(1) A rise in materialism.
The researchers who conducted the 1999-2001 World Values Survey found that the desire for material goods has risen in parallel with income and concluded materialism acts as a happiness suppressant. Other studies have also found materialism to be negatively correlated with happiness. Materialistic people are more likely to be conformist and define their self-image by comparison to others in terms of external criteria such as possessions, status, and physical appearance. They are thus more prone to suffer from depression and anger, a consequence of the frustration and anxiety inherent in the never ending quest to keep up with or get a step ahead of the Joneses. When one's self-worth is based upon things that do not hold their value for long (such as status goods and body image), consumption yields less and only short-term satisfaction. The result is a recurring, insatiable, and self-defeating desire for even more. The more that materialistic people have, the more they want, so the good life they aspire to is always just out of reach.
Unprecedented economic prosperity has provided Americans with the wealth, comfort, and leisure to pursue loftier, non-economic ends -- to explore and develop their potential, engage in intellectual and creative endeavors, spend more time with family and friends, or satisfy other intrinsic aspirations which are positively correlated with happiness. Instead, they have chosen a different path, opting instead to concentrate on achieving external goals which do nothing to increase happiness and have the potential to decrease it.
In the United States, both the individual desire for material goods and the proportion of the population that is materialistic have increased. Materialistic parents, it seems, are raising materialistic children. In 1966, according to an annual study conducted by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, 43% of the nation's college freshmen identified "being very well off financially" as a "very important" or "essential" goal and 82% identified "developing a meaningful philosophy of life" as equally important. By 1997 the numbers had almost competely reversed: 75% considered financial success a top goal and only 41% considered a meaningful philosophy of life just as important.
It's not just that materialism itself increases unhappiness. Pursuing the financial success needed to fulfill personal and family members' materialistic desires also negatively affects social relationships and job satisfaction, which compounds the effect. As social psychologist David G. Meyers put it: "We [Americans] excel at making a living but often fail at making a life."
(2) A decline in social, civic, and political engagement.
Individualist cultures like the U.S. have higher average happiness levels than collectivist cultures (i.e., those which view the group, such as the family, as more important than the individual). But just because some individualism is good doesn't mean that more is better. There is also a strong positive correlation between social relationships (especially marriage) and happiness. And the loss of a spouse through separation or widowhood correlates strongly with unhappiness.
Individualists emphasize autonomy, self-sufficiency, and following one's own path to self-fulfillment; characteristics which are associated with happiness. But individualists also experience higher rates of divorce, depression, and suicide, perhaps because they are more likely to blame themselves when things go bad and lack the social support to help them weather tough times. Social relationships involve commitments and obligations which reduce autonomy. But they provide compensating benefits in exchange. There appears to be an optimum balance between individualism and social connectedness at which happiness is maximized.
Americans are increasingly upsetting that balance by disconnecting socially. They socialized one-third less each day in 1995 than in 1965 and entertained friends less often than a generation ago. Between 1977 and 1998 the proportion of families dining together declined from just under 50% to 33%. Twenty-four percent of Americans now live alone, up from 8% a half-century ago. Compared to 1960, the divorce rate has doubled. The proportion of married adults has declined from 67% in the mid-1970s to 48% by the late 1990s. Membership in voluntary associations peaked in 1960 and has fallen steadily since. Americans now give 29% less to charity (relative to their income) than in 1964. In 1960, 55% of Americans believed most Americans could be trusted; that number has dropped to 33%.
Once a country has obtained a certain level of economic prosperity, additional economic growth has little effect on happiness. Whether happiness levels increase after that economic threshold has been reached is associated, in part, with the type and nature of government: there is a positive correlation between happiness and living in a stable, non-corrupt democracy which protects individual rights and is responsive to its citizens' needs. Studies suggest that while all people living in a democracy benefit, those who actively participate in the democratic process, either directly (e.g., voting) or indirectly (e.g., political activism), benefit the most.
Americans, however, are trusting and participating in government less. Their trust in the national government to do the right thing has dropped from 75% in 1960 to about 25% today. In 1997, a record low 27% of college freshmen thought "keeping up to date with political affairs" was a "very important" or "essential" life goal, compared to 58% in 1966. Voter turnout decreased from 69% of eligible voters in 1964 to 55% in 2000, the second lowest turnout in a presidential election year since 1924. (Voter turnout in 1996 was the lowest in a presidential election year since 1924. The turnout in the 2002 off-year elections was only 39%.) In 2000, approximately two-thirds of eligible voters aged 65-74 voted; less than one-third of 18-24 year olds did.
The more Americans disengage from government, community, and social institutions, the greater their need to be self-reliant and take control of their lives. Yet, disconnecting can have the paradoxical effect of reducing their control. As the world has become more compex, specialized, and interdependent, people are increasingly faced with issues that are all but impossible to influence, much less resolve, at an individual level. When people disengage, they relinguish their power to others and forfeit their say in the outcome. They also facilitate abuse by those who end up with the power, which further endangers their control over their lives. Disengagement also deprives people of opportunities to add meaning to their lives by having something larger than themselves to believe in. Thus, the end result of disconnecting often turns out to be the opposite of what was being sought.
(3) A decline in job satisfaction and rise in job insecurity and unemployment.
Job satisfaction is positively correlated with happiness. Job insecurity and unemployment are positively correlated with unhappiness. Only ill health has a greater negative impact on happiness than unemployment. It's the deterimental psychological and social effects of not having a job that matter, not the loss of income.
Job satisfaction in the U.S. has steadily declined from 56% in the 1970s to 47% in the 1990s. There has been a slight long-term structural increase in the unemployment rate since the 1960s -- from about 4% then to around 5% now. During that same period there may also have been a moderate increase in job insecurity, although publicity about layoffs, downsizing, and outsourcing has created the impression job insecurity is worse than it is. Experts disagree about whether there has, in fact, been any increase in job insecurity at all. (A study by Henry Farber concluded there was no change in job stability between the 1970s and the early 1990s.In contrast, an analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found an upward trend in permanent dismissals between 1968 and 1993.) There is general agreement, however, that the perception of job insecurity has risen. According to the General Social Science Surveys, 66% of American workers felt they were "not at all likely" to lose their job or be laid off in 1977; five percent fewer (61%) felt equally secure about their jobs in 1996.
It is arguable these changes in the labor environment have reduced happiness levels to some degree. The high and increasing number of hours Americans spend working may also be having an effect. Between 1977 and 2004, the amount of time the average American spent at work increased 12 hours per year. Currently, the total number of hours Americans work each year is the most of any industrialized country. The number of families in which all parents work has also increased. In 1960, 70% of American families had at least one parent at home full-time; by 2004, the opposite was true -- all parents worked in 70% of families.
If Americans were less materialistic, they could get by with less money. That would allow them to work less and spend more time engaging in social, civic, and political activities or enable them to switch to a more personally satisfying job even if it paid less. Either option would make them happier. Yet, given a choice, it seems most Americans would not change their priorities. In a 2003 RoperASW study, Americans indicated they would rather have more money (57%) than more personal time (27%). And in a 2001 RoperASW study, the top reason given for changing jobs was more money (57%); only 12% changed jobs to get more personal time.
(4) A rise in chronic health problems and disabling conditions.
Good health and happiness are positively related but, because people take good health for granted, the relationship is small. On the other hand, ill health, particularly severe chronic health problems and multiple disabilities, is strongly correlated with unhappiness. In other words, good health may increase happiness a bit but poor health can lower happiness levels a lot.
In the first half of the twentieth century, infectious and parasitic diseases were the primary cause of death and many of the injuries that were fatal then can now be treated. Since the mid-1960s, medical advances and pharmaceuticals have increased survival rates and prolonged life to the point where the major causes of death have now shifted to those associated with aging, such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and respiratory disease. The effect has been to transform once deadly diseases and injuries into chronic health problems and disabling conditions which have to be coped with for extended periods.
Not suprisingly, a higher percentage of the elderly suffer from chronic illness and, as life expectancy has increased, so have their numbers. But younger people are not exempt. Overall, 40% of all Americans currently suffer from a chronic health problem that affects their daily activities and two-thirds of those are under 65. That means nearly every family in the United States is affected, either as a patient or a caregiver.
The health concern at the forefront today is the epidemic of overweight and obese Americans. Both genders, all ages, all racial and ethnic groups, all educational levels, and all smoking levels are affected. Overweight and obesity now contribute to 400,000 deaths annually and are poised to overtake smoking as the number one preventable cause of premature death. In 1960-62, 44.8% of adults between the ages of 20 and 74 were overweight (31.5%) or obese (13.3%). By 1999-2000, the proportion of adult Americans who were overweight or obese had increased to 64.5% and obesity had almost tripled (33.6% of adults were overweight and an additional 30.9% were obese). In 1963-65, slightly over 4% of children and adolescents were overweight; by 1999-2000 the percentage had more than tripled to about 15.5% with an additional 15% at risk. The incidence of Type 2 diabetes has skyrocketed and 70% of that is attributed to excess weight. Excess weight also contibutes to a litany of other chronic health problems including hypertension, high blood cholesterol, heart disease, some cancers, gallbladder disease, asthma, osteoarthritis, depression, and sleep apnea.
The burgeoning increase in obesity has been partially attributed to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Excess weight, as well as a variety of other health problems, both physical and mental, can be mitigated by exercise. Exercise increases energy levels, provides relief from stress, is an antidote to mild depression and anxiety, alleviates the effects of arthritis, and reduces the risk of heart disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and colon, breast, and prostate cancer.
But Americans' overall physical activity levels are declining. A 2003 Harris poll revealed that since 1995 leisure time activities of adult Americans that required exercise dropped from 38% to 29%. In contrast, a CDC study found that leisure time physical activity has been slowly increasing since 1996. But any increase has been more than offset by decreased physical activity during non-leisure time (e.g., while working, doing chores, and running errands). One example: In 1977, Americans walked for 9% of their trips; in 1995 they walked for just 5% of them. In a 2000-2002 study of Atlanta residents, 91% of those surveyed said they didn't walk to any destinations. (That study also found that every extra 30 minutes that commuters drive each day increases their chance of being obese by 3%.)
According to the CDC, factors that have contributed to the decline in overall physical activity include: the workplace is increasingly automated (less manual labor), many neighborhoods lack sidewalks for safe walking, household chores are assisted by labor saving machinery, walking and bicycling have been replaced by automobile travel for all but the shortest distances, more schools have eliminated or cut back on physical education, and parents are more afraid to let their children play outside unsupervised resulting in more television watching and video game playing for recreation. Whatever the reason, it is estimated that 60%-75% of the people in the United States currently do not engage in enough overall physical activity to promote health -- and minimize the unhappiness associated with health problems.
(5) A decline in income below the amount needed for life's necessities or rise in inome inequality.
If people have enough money to meet their essential needs, increases and decreases in income have some, but generally only a comparatively minor, impact on their happiness levels. The degree of the impact is, in part, a function of whether they have the financial resources to achieve their goals, which in turn depends upon their values. On the other hand, not having enough money to even meet one's survival needs is strongly correlated with unhappiness.
Between 1959 and 1969, the official poverty rate in the United States declined from 22% to 12.1%. Since then it has fluctuated (topping out at about 15% in 1983 and again in 1993) but averaged about 12%. The poverty line used by the government has been criticized for being lower than what is needed to survive. But even if true, the stability of the poverty rate suggests declining incomes are not a factor affecting the happiness levels of Americans.
Income inequality, on the other hand, has been increasing in the U.S. and the gap between rich and poor is now bigger than it has been since the 1930s. Between 1979 and 1992, 98% of the gain in total household income went to the wealthiest 20% of households, leaving 80% of households to split the remaining 2% of the gain. There is evidence to suggest that income inequality in the United States is the highest in the industrialized world.
Yet, a 2002 study by Rafael DiTella, Alberto Alesina, and Robert MacCulloch found no evidence that inequality affects Americans' happiness levels. In Europe, on the other hand, the happiness of the poor (but not the rich) is negatively affected by inequality. The authors hypothesize the different effects are due to differences in social mobility; that if people in the U.S. have more opportunities to move up or down, they are less likely to feel their present situation is a predictor of their future. The inequality is countered by the American Dream, the belief that anyone on the bottom today could end up at the top tomorrow. There is no evidence that mobility in the U.S. is significantly greater than in other countries. But as long as Americans believe it is, the increasing inequality in incomes is unlikely to affect their happiness levels.
Can you spell "disconnect?"
Sociologist Robert Wuthnow reports that 89% of Americans say "our society is much too materialistic;" yet 84% also wished they had more money and 78% said it was "very or fairly important" to have "a beautiful home, a new car, and other nice things." In a 2002 FranklinCovey nationwide survey, Americans were asked to identify what they valued most as well as how they actually spent their time. They said family was their top priority but only 36% were satisfied with the amount of time they spent with their family. They said relationships with a spouse/significant other and friends were very important, but only 58% believed they spent enough time with loved ones and just 38% felt they spent enough time with friends. They said that health and physical well-being was very important, but only 47% believed it was important to take time to exercise. They said having an enjoyable and challenging job is very important, but 32% were neutral about their job and 37% were dissatisfied.
One of my guiding principles is: "People make time for what is important to them." If Americans truly believed our society was too materialistic and that family, friends, health, and job satisfaction mattered most, their actions would be consistent with their stated priorities. But they're not. They're saying the right words but spending a lot of their time and effort doing the wrong things. Even allowing that some of their actions are dictated by factors beyond their control, most are a matter of choice. The bad news is, their choices are making them unhappier. The good news is, all they have to do to become happier is make different choices.
I have no illusions that many will do so. The trends discussed in this essay have become such an integral part of American society and culture that they are now embodied in business practices, government policy, and social norms. The combined pressure exerted by these sources can be irresistible.
What is more disturbing is that Americans' current choices appear to reflect structural changes and shifts in fundamental attitudes and behaviors. These are things that have long-term consequences and cannot be quickly or easily reversed. That means the decline in happiness is likely to continue. It also raises the possibility that the slight decline to date is only the tip of the iceberg, that Americans have just begun to experience the effect of the seeds they have sown and the rate of decline will increase as the full impact becomes felt.
But ask Americans what it would take to make them happier and the usual response is "the same, just more of it" -- bigger, better, newer, fancier, safer, faster, prettier, more work, more money, more convenience, more comfort, more luxury, more prestige. Caught up in a game of "Simon says" led by a blind Simon, unable to see that more of what isn't working isn't better and unwilling to try something different, they are like a mass of migrating lemmings (the Arctic equivalent of rats) with those in the rear struggling to maneuver their way to the front, blissfully unaware that the only reward for their efforts will be the opportunity to be the first to hurl themselves over the edge of the cliff. Okay, that last bit about lemmings blindly following their leaders off a cliff en masse is a myth propagated by Disney. Even lemmings know better than that. It's discouraging to consider that Americans participating in the rat race may not be as smart as lemmings.