The joy curve is collapsing. For decades, research showed the way individuals experienced joy across their life looked like a U-shaped slope. Happiness tended to be higher when they were younger, then dipped in midlife, just to increase again as they grew older. But recent studies suggest young people aren’t as delighted as they used to be, and that U-shaped slope is starting to compress.
This style has shown up but once in a fresh study, one of a collection of documents published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Mental Health. They are the primary publications based on the annual influx of information from World Flourishing Study, a cooperation Harvard and Baylor University.
The information, collected by Gallup mainly in 2023, was derived from self-reported assessments of over 2, 00, 000 people in over 20 countries. It found that, on average, younger adults between age 18 and 29 were struggling- not only with pleasure, but also with physical and mental health, finding meaning in life, the quality of ties and financial stability. Individuals had relatively low steps of flourishing on regular until time 50. ” It is a very dramatic photo”, said Tyler J VanderWeele, lead author of the study and chairman of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Programme. It raises an important question, he said:” Are we sufficiently investing in well-being of youth”?
A 2023 Harvard record found young people in the US reported triple the levels of anxiety and depression as teenagers. On top of that, anxiety has skyrocketed among college students, who often report feeling pressure to fulfill unrealistic expectations. Participation in society companies has declined, and sadness is now becoming as common among young people as it is among older adults. ” Study after study shows interpersonal relationship is crucial for joy, and young people are spending less time with friends than they were a century ago”, said a professor at Yale. ” Plus, like folks of all ages, young people are facing a world with a whole host of global issues- from climate to the economy to political polarisation”. There are several theories as to why young people are in trouble, said a professor at Dartmouth College, but he suspects the problem is largely tied to what they aren’t doing because they’re busy looking at screens.
