Emotionally healthier have more degrees

Older U.S. adults with a college education have higher emotional health scores than those the same age who have fewer years of education, a Gallup poll says. The emotionally well-off are defined as those whose scores on the Gallup-Healthways Emotional Health Index are 90 and above out of a maximum of 100. The index is based on a comprehensive measure of emotional well being asking Americans whether they felt "a lot of" each of the following emotions the day before the survey -- smiling/laughing, learning/doing something interesting, being treated with respect, enjoyment, happiness, worry, sadness, anger and stress. Among those age 65 and older, 35 percent score 90 and above, the poll indicates. Older men are slightly more likely than older women to score 90 and above, while older Hispanics are the least likely to score 90 and above. Being married does not appear to improve older Americans' emotional health. The survey results do not indicate whether a given demographic characteristic, such as having a college education, leads to higher emotional well being or whether people with a propensity to be emotionally positive are more likely to pursue more education, Gallup officials say. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index was conducted via telephone Jan. 2-June 30 with a random sample of 520,267 adults and has a margin of error of 1 percentage point, with subgroups having a margin of error of 3 percentage points. Copyright 2011 United Press International, Inc. (UPI). Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.