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In a nutshell
- Researchers found that young adults in six English-speaking countries are becoming increasingly unhappy, while older adults’ happiness remains stable or improves.
- The traditional U-shaped curve of happiness throughout life has disappeared – instead of happiness rebounding after midlife, it now simply increases with age.
- The decline in youth happiness began around 2012-2013, coinciding with smartphone and social media adoption, suggesting changing communication patterns may be affecting mental well-being.
WASHINGTON — Something alarming is happening to young adults across English-speaking countries. Despite living in an age of technological advancement and increasing global prosperity, they’re becoming increasingly unhappy. Meanwhile, their parents and grandparents are maintaining or even improving their levels of happiness and life satisfaction.
This troubling trend emerges from comprehensive research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, where researchers Jean Twenge and David Blanchflower analyzed eleven different studies across six major English-speaking nations. What they discovered upends decades of established knowledge about happiness patterns throughout life.
The Disappearing U-Curve of Happiness
For years, researchers observed that happiness followed a predictable U-shaped curve – we start happy in youth, hit a low point in midlife (the so-called “midlife crisis”), then bounce back in our golden years. But according to this new research, that pattern has vanished. Instead, happiness now simply increases with age, with young adults reporting the lowest well-being levels and older adults the highest.
This pattern repeats consistently across Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In each country, young adults report declining happiness and life satisfaction over the past decade – a trend that began well before COVID-19 appeared.
In the United States, the evidence is particularly striking. Data from the American National Election Studies shows that young Americans were once equally satisfied with life as older Americans, but by 2020, reported significantly lower satisfaction levels. Similarly, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System reveals that young adults’ life satisfaction plummeted between 2016-2018 and 2022-2024, while those 45 and older maintained relatively stable satisfaction levels.
The Mental Health Connection
These happiness trends mirror other worrying mental health patterns. Across all six countries, young people are experiencing heightened rates of anxiety, depression, and self-harm. Australian data shows mental disorders among young people jumped by 40 percent for men and 60 percent for women between 2007-2010 and 2019-2022. In the UK, doctors wrote 25 percent more antidepressant prescriptions between 2015 and 2019.
Young women appear especially affected by these trends. In Australia, mental illness rates among females aged 16-24 leaped from 30 percent in 2007 to 46 percent in 2020-2022. Other countries show similar gender disparities in declining mental health.
Why Is This Happening?
The timing offers possible clues about causes. Many downward trends in youth happiness began around 2012-2013, coinciding with widespread smartphone adoption and social media mainstreaming. This has led researchers to question how modern communication methods might be affecting young people’s mental health.
Research shows face-to-face social interaction – vital for mental health – has declined more among young adults than older generations, possibly replaced by digital communication. Social media may also foster negative worldviews through constant exposure to idealized versions of others’ lives.
Other possible factors include widening income inequality (linked to lower psychological well-being) and major economic disruptions like the Great Recession, COVID-19, and post-pandemic inflation.
Finding Solutions
For parents, teachers, and policymakers, these findings highlight the importance of addressing unique challenges facing today’s young adults. Potential approaches include encouraging healthy technology use, creating opportunities for meaningful in-person connection, addressing economic inequalities, and expanding mental health resource access.
Ironically, the same technological shifts potentially contributing to youth unhappiness might offer solutions. Digital platforms can connect young people with mental health resources, foster supportive communities, and raise awareness about well-being. The challenge lies in using these tools to enhance rather than diminish happiness.
What’s clear is that declining happiness among young adults represents a serious public health concern demanding attention. The researchers note “broad based evidence of declines” in youth mental health across all six countries. The pressing question is how to reverse this trend and ensure future generations experience not just longer lives, but happier ones too.
The traditional happiness U-curve has disappeared. For young adults across English-speaking countries, life satisfaction now trends in a troubling direction – one we can’t afford to ignore.
Paper Summary
Methodology
This study examined data from eleven surveys spanning six English-speaking countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and the US. The researchers looked at the Behavioral Risk Factor Survey, National Health Interview Surveys, General Social Surveys, US Daily Tracker, American National Election Survey, World Values Survey, Gallup World Poll, Global Minds, Eurobarometer, EU Flash Barometer, EU Loneliness Study, and Global Flourishing Study. By using multiple datasets with different research methods, they could spot consistent patterns that weren’t just artifacts of one survey approach. Most surveys measured well-being through life satisfaction or happiness questions, asking respondents to rate themselves on scales ranging from 3 to 11 points. One common question asked people to picture a ladder with steps from zero to ten, with the top representing their best possible life and the bottom their worst. The researchers then analyzed how answers varied by age and over time, revealing well-being trends across generations and life stages.
Results
The data consistently showed falling happiness and life satisfaction among young adults across all six English-speaking countries. American National Election Studies data revealed young adults’ life satisfaction dropped significantly between 2008 and 2020, while older adults stayed stable or improved. The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System showed young adults’ life satisfaction fell sharply between 2016-2018 and 2022-2024, while those 45 and older remained steady. Gallup World Poll data showed life satisfaction declines in all six countries since 2010, with notable drops between 2015-2019 and 2020-2023. Most striking was the disappearance of the traditional U-shaped happiness curve throughout life. Instead of being happy in youth, less happy in middle age, and happier again later, happiness now simply rises with age – younger adults report the lowest well-being while older adults report the highest. This pattern appeared consistently across different measures and surveys, including the Global Minds survey, which found life satisfaction rising with age in all six countries. The researchers also found increasing mental health problems among young people, especially young women, across all six countries.
Limitations
The researchers acknowledge several constraints to their findings. While they found evidence that life satisfaction was declining before COVID-19, it’s still difficult to fully separate pandemic effects from other influences. The study focuses only on English-speaking countries to reduce methodological differences related to language translation, so findings might not apply to countries with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. While they can identify well-being trends, their methods don’t definitively establish what’s causing them. They suggest factors like reduced face-to-face interaction, increased social media use, and growing income inequality, but note more research is needed to untangle these complex relationships. Finally, different surveys used different well-being measures, which could affect comparability, though finding consistent patterns across multiple methodologies strengthens the overall conclusions.
Discussion and Takeaways
The researchers explore several possible explanations for young adults’ declining happiness. They note that face-to-face social interaction, essential for psychological well-being, has declined more among young adults than older adults, possibly replaced by digital communication. They observe that many downward happiness trends began around 2012-2013, coinciding with widespread smartphone adoption and social media use. This timing suggests changes in how young people connect and communicate might be affecting their mental health. Social media may create negative self-perceptions through constant comparison to others’ curated lives. Other potential factors include widening income inequality and major economic disruptions like the Great Recession, COVID-19, and inflation. The disappearance of the U-shaped happiness curve marks a significant shift in our understanding of life-stage well-being, suggesting fundamental changes in age-related happiness patterns. These findings represent a major public health concern requiring attention from parents, educators, and policymakers. Possible interventions include promoting healthy technology use, creating opportunities for meaningful in-person connection, addressing economic inequalities, and expanding mental health resources.
Funding and Disclosures
The United Nations partially funded this research, as noted in the paper. Jean Twenge disclosed serving as an expert witness on research related to mental health and social media with law firms and U.S. state attorney general’s offices. The authors note their views don’t necessarily reflect those of the National Bureau of Economic Research. They also disclosed that at least one co-author has additional potentially relevant relationships, with more information available on the NBER website. These disclosures help readers understand potential influences on the research and maintain transparency about possible conflicts of interest.
Publication Information
This research appeared as a working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) in February 2025. Titled “Declining Life Satisfaction and Happiness Among Young Adults in Six English-Speaking Countries,” the paper was written by Jean Twenge from San Diego State University and David G. Blanchflower from Dartmouth College, the Adam Smith School of Business at the University of Glasgow, and the NBER. It was published as NBER Working Paper No. 33490 and can be found at http://www.nber.org/papers/w33490. As an NBER working paper, it has been circulated for discussion but hasn’t yet undergone peer review or been reviewed by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.
