Middle-aged are grumpy because happiness is U-shaped

Happiness follows a U–shaped curve during a person's lifetime, according to research showing that middle–aged people are the unhappiest.

Satisfaction with life starts to drop as early as a person's late 20s and does not begin to recover until well past 50, says Bert van Landeghem, an economist at Maastricht University inBelgium.

While young adults are carefree and full of hope for the future and the over–50s have come to terms with the trials of life, the research indicates that those in the middle feel weighed down by the demands on them.

The study found "a substantial dip in happiness during the middle of people's lives is the equivalent to becoming unemployed or losing a family member". The conclusions come in a study of how people perceive their wellbeing.