Is Gen Z struggling with mental health and happiness? Harvard study uncovers alarming truths
Flattening of U-shaped curve
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A recently conducted research analysed data from over 200,000 people across 22 countries to reveal that the young generation is not that much happy as it used to be in earlier times. This was based on the inaugural data from the Global Flourishing Study , a one of its kind collaborative effort of researchers at Harvard University and Baylor University.The data was collected as part of a self-reported survey by Gallup in 2023, The New York Times reported.Over the years, it was majorly predicted that humans got to experience happiness in their lifetime in a U-shape curve. This meant that they remained at a high level of happiness at a young age, but this used to decline as they reached their midlife. It used to rise again when they got old.However, multiple researchers have found out that this suggested curve is now flattening, since happiness now dips at an earlier stage in life.This pattern has been witnessed in the latest research as well.On average, the results have shown that youngsters, who are between the 18-29 age group, are not that much happier than they used to be, as they struggle with various issues in life, such as physical and mental health, having negative perceptions of their character, among others.As part of the study, the team looked into multiple measures to find out how much each of these participants was 'flourishing' -- a situation where they felt all aspects of their lives were going well.Overall, it was seen that the participants had low measures of flourishing as the curve remained flat until around the age of 50. After this, it begins to witness a rise again, the study added.The study has found this to be the reality in a number of countries, such as Brazil, Australia and the UK.However, a surprising thing that they noticed was that this well-being gap among the young and old adults remained the largest in the US.Data from the Global Flourishing Study, which came out earlier this week, shows that Indonesia remains on top as people there flourish the most. In the list, the country was followed by Mexico and the Philippines.The lead author of the study, Tyler J. VanderWeele has called it a "pretty stark picture'.He states that this points towards a major question about whether we are investing sufficient enough for the well-being of the young generation or not.As per CNN, it had 207,000 participants from more than 40 different languages on six inhabited continents.It was published in the Nature Mental Health journal on Wednesday.
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