The optimistic view is that “life begins at 40”, but quality of life surveys in England and Australia have revealed middle age as time many people feel the least confident about their place in the world and what the future holds.
The work by health economist Dr Terry Flynn of the University of Bristol, who will take up a position at the University of Technology, Sydney early next year, has used sophisticated choice modelling to compare about 4300 citizens of Bristol with around 500 respondents from across Australia.
People of all ages were asked to choose among options in five categories: love and friendship; thinking about the future; doing things that make you feel valued; enjoyment and pleasure, and; independence.
“In terms of age, there is a ‘U’ shape in quality of life, at its worst in the late 40s,” Dr Flynn said. “This ‘U’ shape is more pronounced in the Australian sample – younger and older Aussies do very well but middle age seems to hit the Aussies pretty hard.”
Other results showed that when it came to dealing with a potential trough in middle age, love won out over money.
“The Aussie data shows that higher income is associated with better quality of life, but the effect is not statistically significant, after adjusting for age, education and relationship.
Living with a spouse seems to be better for one’s quality of life than a $100K boost to one’s income,” Dr Flynn said.
The research also found:
* Women have slightly better quality of life on average in the UK, but this is not the case in Australia.
* Living alone is very detrimental to quality of life.
* Having a qualification of any kind is associated with better quality of life, though this effect is far larger in the UK than Australia.
* After adjusting for age, relationship status and education, quality of life is almost identical in both countries.
* Australians are more positive about the future than the British.
Dr Flynn’s work in quality of life is providing valuable data for health and social services. He is co-developer of the ‘ICECAP’ quality of life instrument, which has already been used by Bristol City Council in identifying areas of unmet need in the city. That work has quantified the effects of poor health, fear of crime, social isolation and community cohesion upon general quality of life.
He is also involved with studies to investigate exercise and pharmaceuticals in the treatment of depression, to value experiences of caring for an older person, and to elicit patient preferences for dermatology and colposcopy consultations.
Early next year he will join the Centre for Study of Choice (CenSoC) in the UTS Faculty of Business as a Senior Research Fellow. Since finishing his PhD in 2001, he has collaborated with CenSoC researchers in developing choice experiments for use in valuing health and quality of life.
Source:University of Technology Sydney
