Age and Occupational Well-Being

Two questions are examined through an investigation of 1,686 people employed in a wide range of jobs. First, is there a U-shaped relationship between age and occupational well-being, such that medium-aged workers report lower well-being than do both younger and older people? That pattern is found, in relationship to both job anxiety-contentment and job depression-enthusiasm. Second, can the observed associations between age and well-being be accounted for by 13 potentially explanatory factors, covering job position, job characteristics, work values, demographic factors, and family life cycle? After introducing these variables into stepwise regression equations, age remains significantly predictive of job well-being. Possible additional explanations of this positive association include other job characteristics, an increasingly retrospective focus, and non-occupational experiences.