Mark Dolliver's Takes: Dissecting Happiness

Young people evoke more mythology per capita than their elders, so it’s handy to have quantitative data about their real attitudes and behavior. We get some from an Associated Press/MTV poll of 13-24-year-olds, fielded by Knowledge Networks. One key finding: Young people realize (appearances to the contrary) that their values will shift as they age. Eighty-three percent agreed that “the things that bring people happiness are different when they are older,” vs. 16 percent saying sources of happiness “stay the same for all of their lives.”