Verified by 
Key points
- Mental wellbeing decreases across successively younger generations, according to a recent report.
- More than 40 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds report serious challenges with their mental wellbeing, compared to only 6 percent of people over 65.
- The trend of declining mental wellbeing existed before the pandemic, but the impacts of COVID-19 have worsened the trend.
- It's still unclear how young adults will fare as they age, but declines in mental health could have repercussions for decades to come.
According to some estimates, some 75% of adults suffering from a mental health disorder had experienced their first symptoms by the age of 24 [1-2]. This tells us several things. First, that our childhood, adolescence and early adulthood can set the scene for the trajectory of our mental wellbeing for the rest of our lives. And second, that the collective state of young people's mental wellbeing today is potentially a barometer for how society will fare for future decades to come.
A worrying trend for the future health of society.
So how are today’s young adults faring? The recently published Mental State of the World report, which I co-authored, shows a profound and systematic decrease in mental wellbeing across each successively younger generation.
The percentage of respondents aged 18 to 24 with clinical profiles or at risk for clinical challenges was 44% compared to only 6% for those aged 65+. We can also look at the other end of the scale where we find a similar story: Only 17% of respondents aged 18 to 24 were succeeding or thriving, compared to a whole 70% of those aged 65+. This pattern isn’t unique to any one country — it was similar across the internet-enabled English-speaking population of eight countries studied.
Is the pandemic to blame? This trend of decreasing mental wellbeing with each successive generation was there even before the pandemic started, but it has been exacerbated the trend. Mental wellbeing decreased most dramatically in 2020 (relative to 2019) for those aged 18 to 24, with a 15% decrease down the scale, while those in older age brackets saw smaller changes in their average scores. Other studies too have found that the consequences of the pandemic are having a disproportionate impact on the young even though they are at low risk from a health perspective [3].
What is different between generations?
The differences between young and old were greatest for the dimensions of "Social Self" – how we relate to and see ourselves with respect to others – and "Mood & Outlook" — our ability to manage and regulate our emotions and to have an optimistic outlook for the future. In terms of specific elements, older adults scored higher on their self-image, self-worth and confidence, and had better focus and concentration and emotional resilience. In contrast, the young adults in our sample struggled substantially more with feelings of sadness, distress or hopelessness, had unwanted, strange or obsessive thoughts, and experienced mood swings and feelings of guilt and blame.
A natural progression?
One possibility is that young adults today may find it more difficult to calibrate their self-perceptions relative to the wider society, meaning that they disproportionately view themselves worse off than others. It may also be the case that the greater self-confidence and emotional resilience with age reflects a natural maturing and perspective in older generations, something that’s been shown in other studies [4]. However, studies in past decades have shown a U-shaped curve of happiness where the mood and outlook of younger adults were found to be high compared to middle-aged adults. Where has this gone? The huge prevalence of serious challenges with feelings of sadness, distress and hopelessness (a full 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds) is a red flag.
Is the internet to blame?
The first generation to grow up immersed fully in an internet-connected world is 18- to 24-year-olds, and the major societal shifts brought about by this change may not yet be fully appreciated. For instance, relationships that were once based on physical proximity and repeated contact are now increasingly replaced with virtual relationships that lack the benefit of tone and body language, which communicate a great deal.
How much does all this influence the decline in how people view themselves and relate to others? To the ability to trust and resolve conflict with others? How does it influence their view of the world? This is something we need to get a handle on so that we can start to address what is a worrying trend. With studies showing us how mental health struggles in early life can lead to poorer mental and physical health in middle-age and beyond, it’s a problem that will potentially have repercussions for decades to come [5-6].
The Mental Health Million project will be able to look longitudinally to see how this year’s 18- to 24-year-olds fare in their next decade, providing increasingly deeper insight that can help drive mitigating strategies and track their success.
References
[1] Kessler, R.C., Amminger, G.P., Aguilar-Gaxiola, S., Alonso, J., Lee, S., and Ustün, T.B. (2007). Age of onset of mental disorders: a review of recent literature. Curr Opin Psychiatry 20(4), 359-364. doi: 10.1097/YCO.0b013e32816ebc8c.
[2] Kessler, R.C., Berglund, P., Demler, O., Jin, R., Merikangas, K.R., and Walters, E.E. (2005). Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Arch Gen Psychiatry 62(6), 593-602. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593.
[3] Varma, P., Junge, M., Meaklim, H., and Jackson, M.L. (2020). Younger people are more vulnerable to stress, anxiety and depression during COVID-19 pandemic: A global cross-sectional survey. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 109, 110236. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2020.110236.
[4] Reed, A.E., and Carstensen, L.L. (2012). The theory behind the age-related positivity effect. Frontiers in psychology 3, 339-339. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00339.
[5] Richmond-Rakerd, L.S., D’Souza, S., Milne, B.J., Caspi, A., and Moffitt, T.E. (2021). Longitudinal Associations of Mental Disorders With Physical Diseases and Mortality Among 2.3 Million New Zealand Citizens. JAMA Netw Open 4(1), e2033448. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.33448.
[6] Wertz, J., Caspi, A., Ambler, A., Broadbent, J., Hancox, R.J., Harrington, H., et al. (2021). Association of History of Psychopathology With Accelerated Aging at Midlife. JAMA Psychiatry. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.4626.
