You've no doubt heard the old saying that money canât buy happiness. Well maybe it can. A new study published in the scientific journal, âEmotion.â finds that over the last few decades, financial success has become increasingly linked to happiness.
The research based its findings on data from the General Social Survey, which is one of the longest-running nationally representative surveys of U.S. adults, gathering information from over 44-thousand adult participants between 1972 and 2016. And it reveals that among adults 30 and above, âthe positive correlation between socioeconomic statusâ - which includes income, education and occupational prestige - âand happiness grew stronger between the 1970s and 2010s.â
Researchers explain that over this time period, the âhappinessâ of high socioeconomic status white adults was âfairly stable,â but on the flip side, the happiness of white adults on the low side steadily went down. For black adults, the happiness of those on the low side was âfairly stable,â but the happiness of folks with high socioeconomic status has âincreased.â Basically, happiness is more tied to how much we earn now than it was in the â70s and â80s. Lead study author Jean Twinge explains, âSo money buys happiness more now than in the past.â