Science journalist Robin Marantz Henig is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine. Her next book, co-authored with her daughter Samantha Henig, is called Twentysomething: Why Do Young Adults Seem Stuck? and will be out in November.
Is regret something you accumulate in your life, piling it up as you remember an ever-increasing number of things that really could have gone better? If so, you’d think that young people would have fewer regrets than older ones, since they haven’t lived as long and haven’t missed as many chances—and if they have missed a chance at some adventure or relationship, they’re more likely to think that the chance will come around again.But a recent study by Stefanie Brassen and her colleagues at University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf in Germany suggests that young people feel more regret than old people, largely because the older people seem to be quashing those nasty feelings before the feelings overtake them. Indeed, they found that the only 60-somethings who experienced regret at the same level as 20-somethings were those who were depressed.
I think it’s worth considering, though, whether the German investigators really were tapping ...
''het verschil tussen jong en oud is dat jongeren alle opties nog open hebben maar wat hun levenspad gaat kruisen niet kunnen beinvloeden, maar ouderen op zijn minst kunnen bedenken dat de opties die toen niet zijn gekozen je uiteindelijk toch je levenspad kruisen op een manier dat niet in de opties zat toen je jong was. Dat noemen ze een generatiekloof en wie aan beide zijden heeft er geen spijt van?
