Exploring the Happiness Curve in Diverse Societies: Are Rural Populations Exempt from Midlife Slumps?

Re-examining the Happiness Curve: Insights from Rural and Subsistence Societies

The "U-shaped" happiness curve, where happiness levels are high in youth, dip during middle age, and rise again in later years, has been a popular theory in psychology. The theory, derived largely from studies in Western, urbanized societies, suggests that people experience a midlife slump before experiencing a period of renewed contentment in later yea…