<p>"CHICAGO - Newsflash for rock stars and teenagers: It turns out everything doesn’t go downhill as we age — the golden years really are golden.</p>
<p>That’s according to eye-opening research that found the happiest Americans are the oldest, and older adults are more socially active than the stereotype of the lonely senior suggests.</p>
<p>The two go hand-in-hand — being social can help keep away the blues.</p>
<p>The good news is that with age comes happiness," said study author Yang Yang, a University of Chicago sociologist. “Life gets better in one’s perception as one ages.”</p>
<p>A certain amount of distress in old age is inevitable, including aches, pains and deaths of loved ones and friends. But older people generally have learned to be more content with what they have than younger adults, Yang said.</p>
<p>This is partly because older people have learned to lower their expectations and accept their achievements, said Duke University aging expert Linda George…"</p>
<p>Yang’s findings are based on periodic face-to-face interviews with a nationally representative sample of Americans from 1972 to 2004. About 28,000 people aged 18 to 88 took part…</p>
<p>In general, the odds of being happy increased 5 percent with every 10 years of age."</p>
<p>The article also said that midlife is the most stressful time. So, for many of us parents, the future will be rosy compared to today.</p>