It's official: 18-to-24 is the hardest age to be right now
Young adults around the world are struggling more than ever before, says the co-director of a massive global wellbeing study, and to help we need to understand why.
When it comes to happiness, health, purpose, relationships and financial security, 18-to-24 year olds are reporting the lowest levels of any age group, says Tyler J VanderWeele, co-director of the Global Flourishing Study.
To help young people flourish, governments need to understand and address the factors that are contributing to this, he says, including the fall-out from Covid-19 lockdowns, social media and the decline of marriage and religious faith.
"Are we investing sufficiently in the wellbeing of youth and future generations? The data suggests that in many parts of the world, the answer is no," he tells Saturday Morning.
Tyler VanderWeele is the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Supplied / Tyler VanderWeele
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In the Global Flourishing Study, more than 200,000 people in 22 countries answered questions about six core dimensions of human life:
- Happiness and life satisfaction: how content and fulfilled people feel with their lives.
- Physical and mental health: how healthy people feel, in both body and mind.
- Meaning and purpose: whether people feel their lives are significant and moving in a clear direction.
- Character and virtue: how people act to promote good, even in tough situations.
- Close social relationships: how satisfied people are with their friendships and family ties.
- Financial and material stability: whether people feel secure about their basic needs, including food, housing and money.
Of any age group, 18 to 24 year olds reported not only the lowest levels of overall flourishing but also the lowest levels in each of the six specific dimensions of life.
While earlier studies have shown wellbeing often forms a U-shaped pattern across the lifetime (with younger people and older people doing better than those in mid-life), VanderWeele says that the GFS has revealed that over the years "the left part of this U" has been flattening.
"Young people are not doing as well as as they used to be."
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Although there's "pretty compelling evidence" that excessive social media use is contributing to the decline in youth wellbeing, especially for girls and young women, he says that's definitely not the only factor at play.
For many of today's young adults, there's also significant social fallout from Covid 19 lockdowns, a perceived lack of job and housing opportunities, and declining rates of marriage and religious participation, which have been shown to affect wellbeing over time.
“We need to reflect more critically on what's been changing and how might we better be able to support the wellbeing of young adults today."
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The data also showed that while people living in wealthier countries had better wellbeing outcomes, there was a negative correlation between a person's sense of meaning and their nation's GDP per capita, VanderWeele says.
This suggests that in the developed world, we're putting too much emphasis on economic growth, he says, and not enough on supporting people to develop other aspects of wellbeing.
"How can we pursue economic development without compromising meaning and purpose, character and relationships? I'm not sure we've figured that out yet."
In daily life, VanderWeele says most of us - including himself - have some room for improvement when it comes to acting with wisdom, justice, courage and honesty.
"I do have room to grow in this regard, I could be kinder to others. I could help others more, maybe sometimes I am more selfish.
"Why not take these matters seriously and try to help ourselves be better oriented towards contributing to others and helping society more generally?"
