People born in the 1990s have the worst mental health of any generation before them — and the millennials are not recovering as they age, a new study shows.
Researchers at the University of Sydney found that there has been a noticeable deterioration in the mental welfare of each successive generation since the 1950s.
The results indicate that mental health challenges not only affect younger generations more seriously but are impacting each generation that is inching toward old age, according to the study published Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Much of the focus to date has been on the declining mental health of school-aged children and adolescents, where we expect their mental health to eventually improve as they enter adulthood. But this study shows this pattern is changing and that it is not just the kids we need to worry about,” lead author Dr Richard Morris, senior research fellow in the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Medicine and Health, said in a statement.
“Our data not only shows a continuing decline in the mental health of the current crop of young people but continues to affect older generations today heading into their 40s and 50s. We are not seeing the rebound out of young adulthood that previous generations saw as they aged.”
The study was initiated in an effort to uncover the mystery of why the mental health of Australians has been declining since around 2010 — and whether it was an effect only seen in the “post-millennium cohort” or was an indicator of a more permanent, worrying trend.
Researchers tracked the changes in the mental health of more than 27,500 Australians from 2001 to 2020, assessing each age group during the time frame.
The youngest generations are suffering the worst mental deficiencies, the study found.
And the mental health of people born in the 1990s is not improving as they age, unlike older generations.
“Population-level trends in mental health have been declining in developed nations for many years, especially among young people,” the study states.
“The findings from this study highlight that it is the poorer mental health of Millennials that is driving the apparent deterioration in population-level mental health.”
Researchers pointed to social media as a major driver for the country’s deteriorating mental health.
Experts have long decried social platforms and excessive screen time as a source of increased anxiety, depression and addiction in younger generations, as well as an increase in emotional abuse, toxic relationships and the sexualization of youth.
The study also theorized climate change could be playing a large role in dampening the hopes of the younger generations, as well as an overall lack of physical activity, poor sleep and the changing nature of work.
It was unable to account for how increased community awareness of mental health and decreased stigma may have impacted survey results.
Although it is not clear how the trends will continue as Gen Z and Gen Alpha grow, researchers at the University of Sydney are not optimistic.
“This represents important evidence that declines in mental health among young adults may not be expected to spontaneously recover or disappear,” they said in a statement.
The research team hopes to use the data as a launching point to better identify causes leading its young people to suffer mentally and to halt the trend before it can continue to worsen.