What would you say if I told you that certain age groups in America are more likely to feel depressed, anxious, and lonely than others?
You might think I'm talking about teenagers. Mood disorders, self-harm, and suicide have become more common among young people in recent years. Article after article claims that social media is especially harmful to teenage girls, eroding their self-esteem and isolating them. Or you might think of older people, who are often depicted in popular culture and news commentary as isolated and unhappy, with declining health and fewer friends.
You'll probably be surprised to hear the results of a Harvard Graduate School of Education study on mental health in the United States. Young people are the ones most at risk. Even Richard Weisbord, who led the study in 2022, was astonished. His team found that 36% of participants ages 18-25 reported feeling anxious, and 29% reported experiencing depression, nearly double the rate for 14-17 year olds on each scale. More than half of young people worried about money, felt that the pressure to achieve was harming their mental health, and believed that their lives had no meaning or purpose. Weisbord's research shows that the two groups with the lowest levels of anxiety and depression are actually teenagers and older adults.
Other surveys of young adults have produced similarly alarming results. According to the CDC, depression was most prevalent among 18-24 year olds in 2020 (it was least prevalent among those 65 and older). A 2023 Gallup poll found loneliness peaked among 18-29 year olds. And one meta-analysis spanning 40 years found that the number of young adults reporting loneliness has increased year over year. When Weisbord reran the survey last year, anxiety and depression among young adults had also risen to 54% and 42%, respectively. And yet, young adult distress has been widely overlooked. “It was really upsetting,” Weisbord told me when he got the data. “What on earth is going on? Why aren't we talking about this more?”
The intermediate stage from adolescence to adulthood has long been a difficult one. It requires figuring out who you are and carving out your own life. It can be exciting, like all doors are wide open. But it's often stressful, and modern challenges make it even more difficult. Young people are more vulnerable than ever, yet much of American society doesn't see them that way.
One of the things that infuriates Jennifer Tanner is the myth that adolescence is a carefree time. Many people think of adolescence as the perfect crossroads, where you're old enough to have autonomy but young enough to be free of major responsibilities. But it's typically the opposite: you have new obligations but not the wisdom, support or funds to deal with them. Tanner is a developmental researcher who studies “emerging adulthood.” Emerging adulthood is typically defined as the ages 18 to 29, and she thinks many adults wish they could go back and do things differently. In hindsight, it may seem like a golden age full of possibilities. “Every 40-year-old person wishes they were 18,” she said. Meanwhile, young people feel like “the world is on their shoulders and they don't have the resources,” she said. “We're gaslighting them so badly all the time.”
Of course, being a teenager isn't easy either. Depression and anxiety are on the rise among adolescents. But once you reach high school, there's a good chance someone will look out for you if you're depressed at home or don't show up to school. Adults know they should and have some power to do so, Weisbord says. But once you leave high school or college, you may not have anyone to look out for you. Your school friends may be scattered to different places and you may not be able to be close to your family. You may not show up regularly at work and you may have all but disappeared from the public eye. And if your life is disrupted, it can be hard to find mental health resources, Tanner told me, because psychologists tend to specialize in child and adolescent or adult services, which generally skew older.
As soon as you become independent, you are expected to find housing, get a satisfying job, and connect with your community. But these characteristics as an adult are becoming harder to achieve. College costs have skyrocketed, leaving many young people burdened with student loans. Whether or not you have such debt, finding a place to live can seem impossible, given the current lack of affordable housing. In 2022, half of renters will spend more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities, a precarious situation if you don't already have savings. Weisbord explained that under increasing financial stress, paying bills may take priority over finding a fulfilling job. But that may mean missing out on a career that gives you value and meaning. Jillian Styles, a clinical psychologist who works with young people, said many of her clients “feel like they've failed.”
On top of that, the social worlds that young people once occupied are disintegrating. Not long ago, young people were more likely to marry and have children than they are now. They might have been friends with other parents or coworkers, or both. Typically, they belonged to religious organizations. Now, young people are marrying and starting families later, or never marrying at all. People with white-collar jobs are more likely to work remotely or have coworkers who do, making it harder to find friends and mentors through work, Pamela Aronson, a sociologist at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, told me. Religious participation rates are plummeting. Americans are spending more time alone overall, and there are fewer public places where they can go out and talk with strangers. For young people who don't yet have established social habits, the decline in in-person gatherings can be especially tough. “Unless you build new systems around yourself that you contribute to and that contribute to your health and well-being, you're in a precarious position,” Tanner told me.
Sources of friendship inevitably change. For example, today more young people get support (emotionally and financially) from their parents. Forty-five percent of 18-29 year olds live with their parents. But without friends nearby, you can become isolated. Family ties, no matter how wonderful, are no substitute for a group of peers who are all experiencing this sometimes frightening stage of life at the same time.
Without a sense of belonging, the world seems bleak. In Weisbord's survey, 45 percent of young people said they had a “sense that things are falling apart,” 42 percent said gun violence in schools was a burden, 34 percent said the same about climate change, and 30 percent said they were worried about incompetence or corruption among political leaders. These issues don't just affect young people, but not being able to imagine what your life will be like in 10 years' time can make them feel especially bleak. “Anxiety and depression aren't just about the past, they're about how you imagine your future,” Weisbord said of the anxiety and depression. And what about young people? “They don't have hope.”
A shaky start to adulthood can have a negative impact on the rest of life. Aronson noted that millennials, on average, “have less assets than their peers because they started working during the recession and therefore have lower incomes.” Gen Z spends a higher percentage of their money on necessities than millennials did when they were their age. This doesn't bode well for Gen Z's future financial situation. Another concern is that if they can't afford to take on a rewarding job when they're younger, they may end up plowing through uninteresting careers and feeling stuck. If they don't make true friends in young adulthood (which is generally when people make lasting bonds), they may end up feeling lonely in midlife. And if they rely solely on their parents, what will they do when they die?
Putting the onus on young people to overcome social obstacles clearly isn't working. “I don't think you can solve this problem with therapy or medication,” Weisbord, who is also a therapist, told me. He'd like to see more “social infrastructure.” Libraries could arrange classes, volunteer opportunities, and craft sessions for all ages so isolated young people feel part of something. Doctors could ask young patients about loneliness and provide resources to connect with others. Universities could assign advisers to students throughout their four years and offer courses that guide students through big questions about their place in the world. (Weisbord teaches a course at Harvard called “Be a Good Person, Live a Good Life.”) Aronson suggested that workplaces should organize mentoring programs for young employees. And, of course, student loan debt forgiveness, government support for higher education, affordable housing, and more widespread mental health care coverage wouldn't hurt, either.
First, older people need to recognize this crisis. Seeing young people as worthy of empathy means understanding today’s challenges, but it might also involve remembering our own youth as it was and sympathizing with our past selves. Older people may have regrets, but perhaps they did the best they could with the perspective and resources they had. And they can be in a position to remind the young people in their lives that even wrong choices, no matter how imperfect, can lead to a life that contains real moments of joy, fulfillment, and self-awareness. If our culture romanticized growing up a little less and romanticized the golden glow of youth a little less, young people might feel less alone in their struggles. They might even look forward to finding out what happens next.
