{"id":27504,"date":"2025-08-14T11:29:59","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T05:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/?p=27504"},"modified":"2025-08-14T12:08:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T06:23:43","slug":"what-happens-when-society-stops-expecting-you-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/what-happens-when-society-stops-expecting-you-to-work\/","title":{"rendered":"What happens when society stops expecting you to work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A USC Dornsife study finds that for unemployed men, mental health improves significantly after 50 \u2013 not because of aging or more leisure time, but because retirement becomes socially acceptable.<\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
AI Generated Image<\/sup><\/sub><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many believe that happiness rebounds after midlife \u2014 a view supported by the widely cited \u201cU-shaped curve of well-being\u201d popularized by the book The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50<\/em>. But a new study suggests the story is more complicated. Rather than a universal rise in mental health after age 50, researchers found that the rebound is concentrated among one group in particular: unemployed men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To investigate, scientists from USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences<\/a>, working with colleagues at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the University of Amsterdam, and Erasmus University Rotterdam, analyzed data on unemployed men 50 and older across 10 European countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings, recently posted online ahead of publication in the Journal of Labor Economics<\/em> and presented at the IZA Institute of Labor Economics, reveal a stark mental health gap. At age 50, when most men are still working, unemployed men were 23 percentage points more likely to report symptoms of depression than their employed peers. For context, the study suggests unemployed men in midlife were more than twice as likely to report symptoms of depression as those who had lost a spouse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By age 65, however, when most men are retired and the societal expectation to work has faded, that mental health gap disappears entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a striking shift,\u201d said Titus Galama<\/a>, director of the Center for the Study of Human Capital<\/a> based at USC Dornsife’s Center for Economic and Social Research<\/a> (CESR). \u201cIt shows how powerful social expectations around work are \u2014 and how much mental health can improve when those expectations lift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Work norms \u2014 not biology \u2014 fuel the midlife slump<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mental health improves for unemployed men as they approach retirement \u2014 not because of aging or more leisure time, but because of shifting social expectations. In midlife, joblessness often carries stigma. But as more peers stop working, that stigma fades and mental health improves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study suggests that the U-shaped curve of well-being may not be a universal feature of aging, but rather a psychosocial phenomenon shaped by social roles and identity. For unemployed men, the expectation to work appears to weigh more heavily on mental health than financial hardship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Galama and his co-authors, including lead author Coen van de Kraats of Erasmus University Rotterdam, weren\u2019t initially studying retirement norms. They were analyzing trends in health, mental well-being and socioeconomic factors over the course of life when they noticed something unexpected: a distinct U-shape in the mental health of unemployed men \u2014 with a sharp decline in midlife followed by a rebound near retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That pattern may help explain why the well-being curve appears in some datasets but not others. The rise in mental health after age 50, the researchers argue, is driven largely by this relatively small subgroup. When averaged into the general population, their improvement can create the illusion of a broader, universal rebound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier theories suggested the rebound was biological \u2014 linked to brain chemistry or how people report emotions as they age. But the researchers argue it\u2019s psychosocial. The mental health recovery in later life appears to stem from easing social expectations around work, not biology or leisure time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing jobless in midlife isn’t just about lost income,\u201d van de Kraats said. \u201cIt\u2019s about lost identity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How they tracked men\u2019s mental well-being<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand what drives shifts in mental health, the scientists analyzed data from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe<\/a> (SHARE), a long-running study that tracks health, economic status and social trends across the continent. They measured symptoms of depression using the EURO-D scale, a clinically validated tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team also took advantage of a natural experiment created by differences in retirement laws across 10 European countries, age groups and time periods. These policy variations allowed them to isolate the effects of retirement expectations from other factors like age or income. 

Their findings were striking: Mental distress among unemployed men dropped by 18 percentage points in the year after reaching their country\u2019s early retirement age \u2014 and by 37 points five years later. This improvement wasn\u2019t tied to better finances, health or increased leisure time. It coincided with a shift in self-perception: As more peers retired, these men began to see themselves as retired, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs society\u2019s expectations shift with age,\u201d van de Kraats said, \u201csome men find emotional relief not by changing their employment situation, but by no longer feeling they\u2019ve failed to meet it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By contrast, the team found little or no mental health improvement among employed men, unemployed women, or those receiving disability benefits \u2014 suggesting the effect was unique to unemployed men redefining themselves as retired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rethinking the happiness curve<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To test their theory, the researchers compared their European finding<\/a>s to data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study<\/a>.<\/a>The American results echoed the European ones, reinforcing the idea that the so-called U-shaped curve of well-being may not be universal. 

Because the curve reflects population averages, it can mask meaningful differences across subgroups. In fact, the dramatic mental health gains among unemployed men after age 50 skew the average upward, creating the impression of a general rebound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next steps in studying happiness and aging<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am excited that our analyses have led to a theory that can be empirically tested,\u201d Galama said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, the researchers plan to explore whether unemployment affects mental health differently in countries with high versus low unemployment rates, or where formal retirement institutions are absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They also plan to expand their research to other groups, including younger unemployed adults, to determine whether shifting work norms contribute to rising levels of distress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One area of particular interest: the potential connection between work-related social pressure and rising rates of suicide and substance abuse among unemployed men, a phenomenon known as \u201cdeaths of despair<\/a>.\u201d The team plans to examine this trend more closely in the U.S.\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article Title<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Life Gets Better after Age 50, for Some: Mental Well-Being and the Social Norm of Work<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journal of Labor Economics<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOI<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

10.1086\/737772<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Method of Research<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Data\/statistical analysis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article Publication Date<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

24-Jul-2025<\/p>\n

TAGS: <\/strong>mental health<\/a><\/span>psychology<\/a><\/span>midlife depressions<\/a><\/span>retirement<\/a><\/span>social norms<\/a> <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A USC Dornsife study finds that for unemployed men, mental health improves significantly after 50 \u2013 not because of aging or more leisure time, but because retirement becomes socially acceptable. Many believe that happiness rebounds after midlife \u2014 a view supported by the widely cited \u201cU-shaped curve of well-being\u201d popularized by the book The Happiness Curve: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,35],"tags":[543,544,545,546,547],"class_list":["post-27504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-psychology","tag-mental-health","tag-psychology","tag-midlife-depressions","tag-retirement","tag-social-norms"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1.webp",1482,725,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-200x200.webp",200,200,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-675x330.webp",675,330,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-768x376.webp",750,367,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-1100x538.webp",750,367,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1.webp",1482,725,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1.webp",1482,725,false],"ultp_layout_landscape_large":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-1200x725.webp",1200,725,true],"ultp_layout_landscape":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-870x570.webp",870,570,true],"ultp_layout_portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-600x725.webp",600,725,true],"ultp_layout_square":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-600x600.webp",600,600,true],"newspaper-x-single-post":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-760x490.webp",760,490,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-big":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-550x360.webp",550,360,true],"newspaper-x-recent-post-list-image":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-95x65.webp",95,65,true],"web-stories-poster-portrait":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-640x725.webp",640,725,true],"web-stories-publisher-logo":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-96x96.webp",96,96,true],"web-stories-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/image-1-150x73.webp",150,73,true]},"author_info":{"info":["RevoScience"]},"category_info":"News<\/a> Psychology<\/a>","tag_info":"Psychology","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27506,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27504\/revisions\/27506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revoscience.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}