科學(xué)家研究出一條“中年危機(jī)”曲線

科學(xué)家研究出一條“中年危機(jī)”曲線

In 2007. David Blanchflower co-authored a study with Andrew Oswald. They assembled evidence that midlife crises are real, widespread and not just made up by frustrated yuppie parents.

2007年，大衛(wèi)·布蘭奇弗勞爾與安德魯·奧斯瓦爾德合著了一項(xiàng)研究。他們收集的證據(jù)表明，中年危機(jī)是真實(shí)的、普遍存在的，而不僅僅是沮喪的雅皮士(屬于中上階層的年輕專業(yè)人士)父母編造出來(lái)的。

Using data from about a half-million Americans and Europeans, Blanchflower and Oswald found that, all other things being equal, people reported happiness hitting rock bottom in their mid-to-late 40s.

布蘭奇弗勞爾和奧斯瓦爾德利用來(lái)自大約50萬(wàn)美國(guó)人和歐洲人的數(shù)據(jù)發(fā)現(xiàn)，在其他條件相同的情況下，人們的幸福感在45歲中后期跌至谷底。

The study launched a cottage industry for academics and journalists, who worked to build on their findings or pick them apart.

這項(xiàng)研究為學(xué)者和記者們開(kāi)創(chuàng)了一個(gè)“家庭手工業(yè)”，他們?cè)谧约旱难芯砍晒献鑫恼?，或者把它們剖析?/p>

Scholars had many objections. Blanchflower and Oswald, they said, are economists with no business invading psychologists' territory; they studied only rich countries; their data weren't good enough. "And so that made me think, 'Well, we need to go back and redo it,' " Blanchflower says. Blanchflower has released two papers on happiness this month, and, he says, he has another one on the way.

學(xué)者們對(duì)此有很多異議。他們說(shuō)，布蘭奇弗勞爾和奧斯瓦爾德是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，沒(méi)有理由侵入心理學(xué)家的領(lǐng)地;他們只研究富裕國(guó)家;他們的數(shù)據(jù)不夠充分。布蘭奇弗勞爾說(shuō):“這讓我想到，‘好吧，我們需要回去重新做一遍。’”布蘭奇弗勞爾本月發(fā)表了兩篇關(guān)于幸福的論文，他說(shuō)，他還在撰寫另一篇。

One of his studies uses a broad range of data from 132 countries and confirms the finding from his 2007 paper. When you statistically control for things like education and employment status, happiness, he finds, is always a "U-shaped" curve over people's lifetimes.

他的一項(xiàng)研究使用了來(lái)自132個(gè)國(guó)家的廣泛數(shù)據(jù)，并證實(shí)了他2007年論文中的發(fā)現(xiàn)。他發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)你對(duì)教育和就業(yè)狀況等因素進(jìn)行統(tǒng)計(jì)控制時(shí)，幸福感在人們的一生中總是呈“u形”曲線。

That is, it starts high in youth, then trends down and hits bottom in middle age, and picks back up in old age. This is true in all the countries he analyzes, including 95 developing nations. He finds that people are, on average, most unhappy at age 48 in developing nations and age 47 in developed ones. "The happiness curve is everywhere," he concludes.

也就是說(shuō)，它在年輕時(shí)開(kāi)始很高，然后在中年時(shí)下降并觸底，然后在老年時(shí)回升。他分析的所有國(guó)家都是如此，包括95個(gè)發(fā)展中國(guó)家。他發(fā)現(xiàn)，平均而言，發(fā)展中國(guó)家的人在48歲時(shí)最不快樂(lè)，而發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家的人在47歲時(shí)最不快樂(lè)。“幸福曲線無(wú)處不在，”他總結(jié)道。

There are many potential reasons for a midlife crisis — from the physical effects of aging to the stresses placed on breadwinning parents — but Blanchflower believes part of the reason for it is that we reach a point where it becomes clear that we won't achieve all our dreams and aspirations. At first, that's a blow.

原因有很多潛在的中年危機(jī)——從衰老的生理效應(yīng)的壓力放在父母養(yǎng)家糊口,但布蘭奇福勞認(rèn)為,部分原因是我們達(dá)到一個(gè)明顯的點(diǎn),即我們不會(huì)實(shí)現(xiàn)我們所有的夢(mèng)想和愿望。起初，這是一個(gè)打擊。

But then we realize that's OK, and we start just wanting to enjoy what time we have left. He believes this is a natural process, and he points to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that even found a similar pattern among great apes.

但是當(dāng)我們意識(shí)到這沒(méi)關(guān)系的時(shí)候，我們就開(kāi)始想要享受我們剩下的時(shí)間。他相信這是一個(gè)自然的過(guò)程，他指出《美國(guó)國(guó)家科學(xué)院院刊》上的一項(xiàng)研究甚至在類人猿中發(fā)現(xiàn)了類似的模式。

In a second study, Blanchflower tries to understand why so many middle-aged adults are increasingly killing themselves, either intentionally or through drugs and alcohol, a category that economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton call "deaths of despair."

在第二項(xiàng)研究中，布蘭奇弗勞爾試圖理解為什么越來(lái)越多的中年人自殺，要么是故意的，要么是通過(guò)毒品和酒精自殺。經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家安妮·凱斯和安格斯·迪頓把這類自殺稱為“死于絕望”。

Blanchflower believes this group is responding to not only the feelings of angst that come with middle age but to the lingering effects of the Great Recession.

布蘭奇弗勞爾認(rèn)為，這一群體不僅是在應(yīng)對(duì)中年帶來(lái)的焦慮情緒，也是在應(yīng)對(duì)大衰退揮之不去的影響。

He also blames a long-term decline in social cohesion and civic engagement within communities as contributing to the problem. People feel more isolated. Blanchflower believes social support systems and health professionals can help. "The people who do OK are those with resources, health care, family, friends and good neighbors."

他還指責(zé)社區(qū)內(nèi)社會(huì)凝聚力和公民參與的長(zhǎng)期下降是造成這一問(wèn)題的原因。人們感到更加孤立。布蘭奇弗勞爾認(rèn)為，社會(huì)支持系統(tǒng)和衛(wèi)生專業(yè)人員可以提供幫助。“感覺(jué)良好的人是那些有資源、有醫(yī)療、有家庭、有朋友、有好鄰居的人。”

The good news is that the return to happiness after middle age appears to be nearly universal. Blanchflower, to take just one example, is 67 years old. He says he's happy. He's a grandfather. He spends much of his time in Florida fishing. In fact, when we spoke to him, he had just caught a 28-inch, 20-pound red fish in the Florida mangroves. He sent us a picture. Look at that blissful face, the smile of a beaming U-shaped curve.

好消息是，人到中年后，幸福感的恢復(fù)幾乎是普遍現(xiàn)象。舉個(gè)例子，邦遲佛拉已經(jīng)67歲了。他說(shuō)他很高興。他是一個(gè)爺爺。他大部分時(shí)間都在佛羅里達(dá)釣魚(yú)。事實(shí)上，當(dāng)我們和他談話時(shí)，他剛剛在佛羅里達(dá)的紅樹(shù)林釣到了一條28英寸，20磅重的紅魚(yú)。他寄給我們一張照片。看看那張幸福的臉，微笑的u型曲線。