Young Adults Are Less Happy Than Their Elders, Study Shows (image @Pixabay)

The young adults are not happy anymore. Happiness is believed to be a U-shaped curve. It is higher when one is young, goes down in midlife, and rise again when one gets older. However, the new research indicates that there is a slight dent in the said curve. The research, based on the findings from six English speaking countries highlight that the young adults are much less happy than generations before them. According to the research, younger adults and adolescents aged 12 to 25 are less happy.

The study, published by the United States-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and commissioned by United Nations, show a consistent dip in life satisfaction and happiness among young adults in the last decade. The study analysed data collected from 11 countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the US.

Not only this 11 countries, studies from other parts of the world, including West Asia, Africa, and Latin America also shows that it is broadly true that the young adults are less happier than past generation. The study is co-authored by San Diego State University psychologist Jean Twenge and Dartmouth University economist David G Blanchflower. Concluding the study, Blanchflower and Twenge upend the long-held belief that happiness follows a U-shaped curve.

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As per the research, many of individuals aged between 12 to 25 are facing depression and psychological distress at rates that are much higher than those who are older than them. At the same time, the older adults are shown experiencing increasing life satisfaction as they age.

The research raises concern that the younger generations are facing unprecedented challenges in a post-COVID world, with the ever growing digital technology, and economic uncertainty adding fuel to the situation.

The study finds that there is a clear correlation between the dip in happiness and increased use of internet, given the era of smartphones and social media. The researchers call the emergence of smartphones and social media as the major reason contributing to the unhappiness in the young adults, than the generation before them.

In 2024, the Pew Research Survey found that three in four American teenagers felt happy or peaceful when they were without their smartphones. Another research in the same year showed that British teenagers and preteens were the least happy in Europe due to social media.

In his 2024 research on Africa, titled as The Mental Health of the Young in Africa, published by NBER, Blanchflower said while about half of the huge continent’s population has never used the internet, those who have are likelier to show “mental health problems”.

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“The absence of the internet might help explain why the mental health of young Africans has been declining less than elsewhere…However, there are dangers on the horizon as the sales of smartphones explode”, said the study.

However, the internet and smartphones might not be the only reasons for the decline in happiness among young adults; economic hardships, and loneliness might also be a contributing factor, says the study. “A number of cultural forces may be at work that have had a negative impact on life satisfaction and views of society, including declining in-person social interaction, increased social media use, and increasing income inequality”, it says.

According to 2024 World Happiness Report, individuals under 30 have witnessed a dramatic decline in happiness since the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation is particularly sharp in US, which fell out of the index’s 20 happiest countries for the first time since the report was published in 2012.

According to the authors of the research, more study will be needed to understand why the youth appear to be in increasingly unhappy mode, in order to aid the policymakers in creating a concrete steps to reverse this major shift.

(With inputs from agencies)