More young adults are battling chronic stress and mental health issues. (Photo by Road Trip with Raj from Unsplash)
Decades Of Psychological Research Overturned As Young Adults Face Historic Mental Health Decline
In A Nutshell
- For decades, happiness followed a U-shape: people dipped in midlife and recovered in old age. That pattern has now disappeared.
- A new study of 1.7 million people in 44 countries shows young adults are now the most distressed group, while older adults fare better.
- In the U.S., despair among under-25s rose from 2.9% in 1993 to between 6.6% and 8% in 2023/24. Young women reported the sharpest increases.
- Researchers point to smartphones, social media, economic pressures, and underfunded healthcare as likely drivers of this global reversal.
HANOVER, N.H. — For decades, human happiness followed a predictable pattern: people started their adult lives relatively content, hit rough patches in middle age, then bounced back to feel better in their golden years. But new research reveals that pattern has been completely overturned. Today’s young people are experiencing mental health crises at rates that would have been unthinkable just 20 years ago, while older adults maintain better psychological well-being than ever before.
A new study published in PLOS One examined data from over 1.7 million people across 44 countries and found that the age-old relationship between age and mental health has reversed entirely. Where middle-aged adults once suffered the most psychological distress, young people now bear that burden.
In 1993, just 2.9% of Americans under 25 reported feeling in “despair” for an entire month. By 2023/24, that figure had climbed to about 6.6% according to survey tables, though the authors also note in their text a rise to 8%. Among young women specifically, despair rates rose from 3.2% in 1993 to 9.3% in 2023/24.
Mental Health Crisis Spans Multiple Continents
The troubling trend extends far beyond American borders. Data from countries ranging from Algeria to Australia, Brazil to Bangladesh, reveals the same pattern: mental health now consistently improves with age, making young people the most psychologically vulnerable group worldwide.
Among people under 25 globally, nearly half (48%) showed clinical signs of mental health risk, compared to just 25% of all adults. Among the most concerning findings: 13.4% of young people scored in the “distressed” category, more than double the rate for the general population.
Gender differences appear universal. Across all 44 countries studied, young women consistently reported worse mental health than young men, with 53% of females under 25 showing negative mental health scores versus 41% of males.
The research team analyzed data from multiple large-scale surveys, including the U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which conducts over 400,000 interviews annually, the UK Household Longitudinal Survey, and the Global Minds Project spanning 2020-2025.
Schools, Hospitals, and Workplaces Feel the Impact
These statistics translate into real-world problems affecting multiple sectors of society. Emergency room visits for mental health issues among American children and teens increased from 784 per 100,000 in 2016 to 869 per 100,000 in 2019. Suicide rates among youth aged 12-17 jumped 70% between 2008 and 2020.
Educational systems are struggling too. Chronic absenteeism (missing 10% or more of the school year) rose from 17.6% in 2017 to 29.6% in 2021. A recent survey found that 69% of high school teachers identified anxiety and depression as major problems in their schools.
Antidepressant prescriptions have surged among young people, with usage climbing significantly even before COVID-19. In the United Kingdom, antidepressant prescribing to children ages 12-17 doubled between 2005 and 2017.
The workplace crisis is equally concerning. In the UK, 62,000 more young people became economically inactive since the pandemic. Between 2019 and 2022, economic inactivity increased by 29% among those aged 16-24 and 42% among those aged 25-34, with mental illness driving most of the long-term sickness in these age groups.
COVID Accelerated But Didn’t Create the Crisis
While the pandemic certainly worsened mental health outcomes, researchers emphasize that declining youth well-being began nearly a decade earlier. The study notes: “It does not seem that the results have been driven by the pandemic alone as we show that the decline in both the U.S. and the UK started prior to the pandemic, which simply exacerbated existing trends.”
COVID did accelerate some patterns, particularly in the UK, where despair among under-25s increased even faster during pandemic years. But the data clearly shows this crisis has deeper roots.
Researchers point to several potential causes. Economic factors play a role, as many young people entered job markets during or after the Great Recession, potentially experiencing lasting career impacts.
However, mounting evidence links smartphone and social media use to declining youth mental health. The study references “natural experiment” research from multiple countries showing that the relationship between technology use and poor mental health appears causal rather than merely coincidental.
Studies examining restricted smartphone access have found significant improvements in self-reported well-being, while research tracking broadband internet expansion showed it was linked to increased suicide rates among young people.
Strained mental healthcare resources may also contribute. Budget cuts following the Great Recession reduced funding for publicly provided mental health services, potentially creating treatment delays that worsen outcomes.
The researchers describe this shift as overturning one of psychology’s most reliable patterns. As the study states: “The well-being U-shape in age and the hump-shape in ill-being has been described by one of us as ‘among the most striking, persistent patterns in social science.’ This is no longer the case.”
What once seemed like a universal truth about human development has been completely reversed. Society now confronts a generation whose mental health challenges exceed anything previously documented in psychological research, with consequences that will likely reshape our understanding of human development for years to come.
Disclaimer: This article is based on peer-reviewed research. It is intended for general informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical or mental health advice. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues, please seek support from a qualified professional. In the U.S., you can dial or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
Paper Summary
Methodology
Researchers analyzed data from three major sources: the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (over 400,000 annual interviews from 1993–2023/24), the UK Household Longitudinal Survey (2009-2023), and the Global Minds Project (1.7 million participants across 44 countries from 2020-2025). They measured mental health using questions about days of poor mental health, anxiety levels, and mental health quotient scores. The study focused on adults aged 18-74 and used statistical regression analyses to control for factors like gender, education, employment status, and geographic location.
Results
The traditional U-shaped curve of happiness across age groups has disappeared, replaced by a pattern where mental health consistently improves with age. In the US, despair rates among those under 25 increased from 2.9% in 1993 to 6.6–8% in 2023/24, with young women seeing rates rise from 3.2% to 9.3%. Globally, 48% of people under 25 showed clinical signs of mental health risk, compared to 25% of the general population. This pattern held true across all 44 countries studied.
Limitations
The study relies primarily on self-reported mental health measures, which could be subject to reporting biases. The Global Minds data comes from online surveys, which may not represent all demographic groups equally. While the research spans multiple countries and datasets, cultural differences in expressing mental health concerns could affect cross-national comparisons. Additionally, the study cannot definitively establish causation for the observed trends, only document the statistical patterns.
Funding and Disclosures
The research was funded by the United Nations. The authors declared no competing financial interests.
Publication Information
Blanchflower, D.G., Bryson, A., Xu, X. (2025). “The declining mental health of the young and the global disappearance of the unhappiness hump shape in age,” published in PLoS One 20(8): e0327858. Published August 27, 2025.
It did not “rise with age”. It’s the same as Congress. The same people are the happiest, and are also in control of everything—the Boomer generation. Average age of Congress was 35, and then it magically just rose with Boomers age and is now 71. Boomers have all the wealth, all the authority, all laws are designed for their benefit. Of course younger gens will be miserable. And they react the only way the more rational ones can, by refusing to have children of their own.
Nothing new, has happened in history plenty of times. At some point a generation arises that steals all the wealth and power and selfishly violates the social contract. It is now on a world wide basis. Eventually it will lead to collapse as it always has before.