To me it's not the same statement: it's one thing to say that people who might be prone to be depressed as early adults might have higher risk of dementia later

To me it's not the same statement: it's one thing to say that people who might be prone to be depressed as early adults might have higher risk of dementia later. To say that happiness at that period is protective, suggests that if you cheered them up at the right time, they'd no longer be at higher risk. Is it something about their brain structure or approach to adversity, or is it specific, moment to moment lived experience? If it's the latter, then a dementia prevention strategy could be giving out free amusement park tickets to 20-somethings. I'm being facetious, but the "happiness" title really does shift the focus. So I didn't think it was equivalent. As a general statement, these university press releases on research findings are some of the lowest-quality posts on HN.