I am more and more in the HN camp with those viewing the bulk of social science as...not good science.
> We have been doing a study of about 2000 people from age 21 to 100-plus. We look at their physical health, cognitive function, and psychosocial functioning. What we find is that physical health declines after middle age, which is not a surprise. Cognitive function starts to decline in older age, not a surprise. But psycho-social functioning, including wellness, quality of life, and happiness progressively improve with age. Older people handle stresses better than someone in their 20s and 30s. When you’re young and something goes wrong you might be crushed. When you’re old, and something goes wrong, you say, “That’s okay. There are other things that will go right.”
This is the unroasted scientific nut in an article written with an overwhelmingly authoritative tone. It sounds like the researchers have an online form or sent out a survey. To whom? With what specific questions? Or maybe they are asking in person and older people are more reticent to reveal to a stranger that they are lonely or unhappy. Does "We have been doing a study" mean it is still in progress, and if so, why are they reporting the results already? The answer of course is that an article like this helps justify the grant money / salaries for the UCSD Center for Healthy Aging.
> When you’re young and something goes wrong you might be crushed. When you’re old, and something goes wrong, you say, “That’s okay. There are other things that will go right.”
This bit is massive, massive blanket statement to extract from whatever survey they are conducting. Both the young and old can be equanimous.
Looking at my own grandmother's current life- almost every one of her friends is dead and she has the more limited mobility and health problems people in their 80s often have. She definitely tries to act as cheerful as possible around us, but I know she gets sad. Because having everybody who really understands you and shared common experiences with you be dead is sad. No longer being able to ride a bike or have the health to travel is sad. Its de-humanizing to think that older people somehow don't feel the emotional pain of these experiences.