Happy Teens Earn More When They Enter Adulthood

Being happy is not only good for your mental health but also for your pockets after a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that those who are happy in their teenage years tend to earn more by the time they are 29 years of age.

Researchers led by Jan-Emmanuel De Neve of University College London analyzed data from the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health in which more than 15,000 have recorded their happiness and wellbeing scores since 1994, though the researchers used data of just 10,000 people who were between 16 and 21 years of age.

The researchers found that each point on the happiness and wellbeing scale was equal to $2,000 and those who were happy and very satisfied with their lives when they were 21 years of age tended to earn $10,000 more than those who were not satisfied by the time they were 29 years old.

"Everybody feels intuitively that the individuals who have a sunny disposition have a larger network and more opportunities seem to come their way, they are more likely to rise in an organisation and become a leader in the group. All these things have indirect ways of ending up in higher earnings and there is a direct effect that goes direct to income", De Neve said.



Source: Medindia