USA Today有一篇報導「Men become happier than women by midlife」提到：根據美國最近發表的一項研究調查報告顯示，美國中年男子過得遠較女子來得快樂。
Women start out as happy young adults but by midlife wind up the sadder sex, says a new study on satisfaction related to financial circumstances and family life, which past research has shown play a significant role in well-being and happiness.
報導指出這項長期研究報告的樣本數為四萬五千位美國中年男女，而48歲則是美國男性在快樂指數上開始超越女性的分界點。
Researchers analyzed decades of national data on 47,000 men and women to create a statistical model that shows women's happiness decreases, while men's increases, exceeding women's by age 48.
至於快樂的定義所指為何，這篇報導也引用了參與這項研究的英國劍橋大學經濟學者Anke Plagnol的話：
Satisfaction depends on how far people fulfill their aspirations.
簡單闡明了：所謂快樂，其實就是自我實現。
至於，何以中年女子在自我實現上承受了更多挫折，該研究小組成員表示未來將考慮更多變數交叉分析以釐清真相。大概也是「要真知道為什麼不快樂，還會不快樂嗎」的意思吧。
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