If you thought entrepreneurship was too stressful a path to venture down, you might want to reassess. A new study found that there may be a surprising benefit to starting a business: longevity.
The study, titled “Do Entrepreneurs Live Longer?,” comes from researchers at the School of Business at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and was published in the Journal of Business on October 22. For the research, associate professor Cristiano Bellavitis and his collaborators examined 20 years of data from 27,501 Americans 50 and older.
Interestingly, it found that those who work for themselves may live longer than those who spend the bulk of their lives working for others: Entrepreneurs had a 10% lower risk of premature death. That was true even after researchers accounted for other factors that might tip the scale in either direction, such as age, income and wealth, and level of education.
The research offers a different perspective on work that can feel all-encompassing or lead to longer hours, which entrepreneurship is often associated with. While previous studies have found that long hours can lead to an uptick in death by heart-related illness, such as stroke, other considerations apparently come into play, such as the sense of freedom that can (sometimes) flow from working for yourself.
Bellavitis said it’s a vital component that showed up in the study. “Most people think of entrepreneurship as extremely stressful, and it certainly can be. But entrepreneurship also gives people a high degree of autonomy and the opportunity to pursue something they genuinely love or care about,” he stated in a press release. “Our findings suggest those benefits may have lasting effects.”
Entrepreneurs are known to experience burnout in high numbers. However, the study revealed there was one major consideration that made the difference: The greatest advantage happened when that autonomy was the most present. “What seems to matter is not entrepreneurship alone, but the circumstances under which people enter it,” Bellavitis says.
For example, when entrepreneurs launched businesses out of desire rather than necessity, longevity showed up. That means that, no matter what your profession—and whether you’re working for yourself or someone else—choice seems to matter deeply.
Longevity might be the biggest payout, but it wasn’t the only one the study spotted. Entrepreneurs reported lower levels of both depression and loneliness. While those are two mental health factors that can contribute to better health, they can also contribute to a greater sense of happiness.
Therefore, entrepreneurship—at least when pursued out of passion and purpose rather than need—might not just be the key to a long life, but also a happy one.
