The Role of Domain Satisfaction in Explaining the Paradoxical Association Between Life Satisfaction and Age

Although aging is associated with declines in many life domains, overall life satisfaction does not appear to decline sharply
with age. One explanation for this paradoxical finding is that several life domains improve with age such that increases in
certain domains balance the decreases in others. Because different issues are problematic at different life stages, it is
likely that specific domains display different life trajectories compared to overall life satisfaction. The observed pattern
for overall life satisfaction is likely due to a bottom-up approach. Life and domain satisfaction data from 8 years of the
British Household Panel Study were analyzed to evaluate this hypothesis. Results indicated that satisfaction with some life
domains increased after middle age (e.g. social life), whereas satisfaction with other life domains decreased (e.g. health).
Additionally, results illustrated that although domain satisfaction scores demonstrate distinct trajectories, the aggregate
of these distinct domains resembled the overall life satisfaction trajectory. These findings have implications for top-down
and bottom-up models of life satisfaction.