[…] People who describe themselves as “very religious” are among the happiest of people. Those who say they are “very religious” come in ten points higher than America as a whole on the Happiness Index (45% compared to 35% are considered “very happy”). In contrast, just over one-quarter (28%) of people who describe themselves as “not religious” were measured at that level of happiness.

A similar difference is noted among people who say they “pray or study religion at home” on a daily basis compared to less often. Over four in ten people (43%) who engage in “daily” prayer or religious study are very happy. In comparison, just over one-quarter (28%) of people who “never” pray or study religion at home have a comparable happiness level.

[…] Ethics also appears to affect happiness levels. Just under four in ten people (37%) who are “never or rarely pressured to act unethically” are very happy according to the Index. Only about one-quarter (26%) who are pressured to act unethically “all the time” or “often” are very happy according to the Index.

[…] Older people tend to be happier according to the Happiness Index. Less than one in three (29%) in the 18 to 24 age bracket are very happy according to the survey, compared to almost one-half (47%) of people age 65 and older. The survey results also show a clear trend in increasing happiness between those two age groups.[…]

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Americans grow happier as they grow older, according to a University of Chicago study that is one of the most thorough examinations of happiness ever done in America.

The study also found that baby boomers are not as content as other generations, African Americans are less happy than whites, men are less happy than women, happiness can rise and fall between eras, and that, with age the differences narrow.

“Understanding happiness is important to understanding quality of life. The happiness measure is a guide to how well society is meeting people’s needs,” said Yang Yang, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago and author of the new article.

The research relies on data that social scientists consider the gold standard of happiness research–responses to questions about contentment with overall life gathered in the General Social Survey of the National Opinion Research Center, which the National Science Foundation supports at the University of Chicago.

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According to data collected from more than 200,000 people in 72 countries, happiness follows a U-shaped curve. That means people in their 20s and 60s are happy and people in their 40s are depressed.

The news makes me giddy.

Forget my achy back and minor Parkinson’s tremor. Overlook my buddy’s second bout with breast cancer. Ignore my cousin’s surgical rendezvous for knee replacement.

Being 60-plus is the giggles.

Andrew Oswald of Warwick University in Britain told reporters, “It happens to men and women, to single and married people, to rich and poor, and to those with and without children. Nobody knows why we see this consistency.”

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