Z gene distress is dismantling long -term happiness curve and confused researchers

The curve of happiness has been a relatively predictable form of u for a long time: you are happier when you are young, then happiness decreases in the middle life, only to rise again to old age. But researchers have discovered that the curve is applied, as happiness is immersing itself before the life of what before.

The results came out of the Florit Global StudyA collaboration between researchers from the Harvard and the University of Baylor that analyzed the data collected by Gallup from more than 200,000 people in 22 countries. They discovered that on average, young adults aged 18 to 29 were dissatisfied, although they were faced with poor mental and physical health, negative perceptions of their own character, finding meaning in life, financial safety and the quality of their relationships.

Use The Florent measures Harvard—A compost of the happiness and satisfaction of life, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue and nearby social relationships: researchers determined how much each participant was flourishing in their lives. Now, they found, the flowery curve is flat until the age of 50, when it starts to get up again.

Researchers found that this was true in several countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, but the welfare gap of the youngest and oldest adults was the widest in the United States.

“It’s a pretty dirty picture,” Tyler J. Vanderweele, lead author of the studio and director of Harvard’s Human flowering programsaid to the New York Times. “Do we invest enough in the well -being of youth?”

Why is z z so dissatisfied?

Recent search It shows that the satisfaction of life and happiness have been constantly diminishing among young adults over the last decade. In the US, the Junior Risk Behavioral Survey (YRBSS) has reported a dramatic increase in anxiety and depression between North -American genetics, especially young women. By 2023, 53% of women high school students reported feelings of persistent sadness or despair, compared to 28% of boys.

“Young people do not do it as well as they used to be,” wrote the authors of the Florent Global study. “While the causes are probably diverse, mental health concerns with young adults are clearly upward.”

A national 2023 Harvard survey It was also found that young adults (18 to 25 years old) suffered higher anxiety and depression rates than younger teenagers. This study concluded that the following factors promoted the decrease in the mental health of gene Z:

• Lack of meaning and direction: The survey found that more than half (58%) young adults reported that they had no “sense or purpose” in their lives the previous month, and half also reported that their mental health was negatively influenced by “not knowing what to do with my life.”
• Financial concern: 56% of young adults were concerned about their financial well -being.
• Pressure to achieve: Half of young adults expressed it Achievement pressure adversely influenced his mental health.
• Feeling that the world is getting rid of: 45% of young adults reported that a “general feeling that things are melting” caused their mental health to decrease.
• Solitude and social isolation: Almost half (44%) of young adults denounced the feeling of not importing to others, while 34% reported that they were lonely.
• Social and political problems: Among widespread topics, such as climate change, weapons violence in schools, and concerns about political leadership, among topics that weighed the Z. Z.

For more information on happiness:

• Researchers have followed More than 700 people since 1938 to find the keys to happiness. This is what they discovered
• Happier parents Tap this emotion 1
• Americans under the age of 30 are so miserable that the United States has just fallen into a low historical rank In the annual report of world happiness

This story originally presented to Fortune.com