Latest news with #VanderWeele
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Gen Z Youth Is Totally Restructuring the Way Researchers Visualize Happiness — & It's Not Good
Happiness is a hard thing to quantify. How do you take a subjective feeling and make it a fact? It's something researchers have grappled with, and that subjectiveness is why most studies about happiness (or any emotion) have to be taken with a grain of salt. But for a long time, researchers have thought of the human experience of happiness as a U-shaped line graph. People are typically really happy in their youth (Oh, the joys of adolescence!), and that feeling dips as they reach middle age (Here comes that proverbial crisis!). And then, as adults get even older, they begin to feel as content as they were when they were young (Bring on the Golden Years!). More from SheKnows Gen Z Students Graduate College This Month - This Is What the Majority Are Thinking New research is quite literally squashing that idea. Instead of a 'U,' Gen Z is so unhappy that their early years are more in line with the happiness levels of middle age. What does that mean? Basically, researchers have to start thinking of happiness as more of a 'J' than a 'U.' This week, a collection of papers in Nature Mental Health, based on a collaboration between Harvard and Baylor University, and the findings are bleak. The data, which comprised of self-reported surveys of more than 200 thousand people in over 20 studies, found that people ages 18 to 29 were generally struggling with happiness, physical and mental health, perceptions of their own character, their ability to find meaning in life, the quality of their relationships, and their financial security. Like we said … bleak. These findings are part of the first wave of data from the 'Global Flourishing Study,' and, as you probably guessed, it found that most participants in Western countries had 'lower levels of flourishing' (AKA not living in a state where all aspects of life were good) until they hit the age of 50. 'It is a pretty stark picture,' said Tyler J. VanderWeele, the lead author of the study and director of Harvard's Human Flourishing Program, per The New York Times. And so the question becomes, as VanderWeele asked, 'Are we sufficiently investing in the well-being of youth?' So, how did we end up here? You probably have some theories (we know we do). There is an abundance of research showing how detrimental social media is to young people's mental health. And climate anxiety probably doesn't help. But perhaps there is more. Dr. VanderWeele said the Global Flourishing Study plans to collect data annually through 2027 to try and understand why so much of Gen Z is not flourishing. And we have to wonder, what does that mean for younger teens? If you ask Emiliana R. Simon-Thomas, the science director of the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, she doesn't think it's great. 'Our welfare is dependent on the welfare of every other human,' she said, per NYT. 'We don't just get to be happy and put a fence around ourselves.' Meaning, if older teens and young adults are so miserable that researchers have to reevaluate what happiness looks like, their younger peers just might follow of SheKnows How 20+ Celebrity Parents Are Raising Their Kids to Be Good Humans Anna Nicole Smith's Daughter Dannielynn Birkhead & More Grown-Up Celebrity Kids Wearing Their Famous Mom's Outfits 35 Famous Daughters Who Look Just Like Their Celebrity Moms
Hans India
03-05-2025
- Health
- Hans India
Rethinking happiness and health in a changing world
Young adults across the world between the ages of 18 and 29 are struggling, not only with happiness but also with their physical and mental health, according to a new study. The study showed that young adults are struggling with perceptions of their own character, finding meaning in life, the quality of their relationships, and their financial security, Xinhua news agency reported. The data, collected by Gallup primarily in 2023, was derived from self-reported surveys of more than 200,000 people in over 20 countries and published in the journal Nature Mental Health. The study was one of a collection of papers based on the inaugural wave of data from the Global Flourishing Study, a collaboration between researchers at Harvard and Baylor University. The study found that the participants had relatively low measures of flourishing on average until age 50. 'It is a pretty stark picture,' said lead author Tyler J. VanderWeele, of the study. The findings raise an important question, he said: 'Are we sufficiently investing in the well-being of youth?' The condition was found to be similar in a number of countries, including the UK, Brazil, and Australia. But the difference between younger and older adults was largest in the US, The New York Times reported, citing the researchers. 'Young adulthood has long been considered a carefree time, a period of limitless opportunity and few obligations. But data from the flourishing study and elsewhere suggests that for many people, this notion is more fantasy than reality,' said The Times in its report about the study. 'Study after study shows that social connection is critical for happiness, and young people are spending less time with friends than they were a decade ago,' Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale and host of 'The Happiness Lab' podcast, was quoted as saying. 'Plus, like folks of all ages, young people are facing a world with a whole host of global issues, from climate to the economy to political polarisation,' Santos added.
Economic Times
02-05-2025
- Health
- Economic Times
Is Gen Z struggling with mental health and happiness? Harvard study uncovers alarming truths
Flattening of U-shaped curve Live Events What does the new study suggest? Country-wise results FAQs (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel 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 data was collected as part of a self-reported survey by Gallup in 2023, The New York Times 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 multiple researchers have found out that this suggested curve is now flattening, since happiness now dips at an earlier stage in pattern has been witnessed in the latest research as 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 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 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 study has found this to be the reality in a number of countries, such as Brazil, Australia and the a surprising thing that they noticed was that this well-being gap among the young and old adults remained the largest in the 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 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 per CNN, it had 207,000 participants from more than 40 different languages on six inhabited was published in the Nature Mental Health journal on Wednesday.
Gulf Today
01-05-2025
- Health
- Gulf Today
Young adults not as happy as before, reveals new study
Young adults across the world between the ages of 18 and 29 are struggling, not only with happiness but also with their physical and mental health, according to a new study. The study showed that young adults are struggling with perceptions of their own character, finding meaning in life, the quality of their relationships, and their financial security, Xinhua news agency reported. The data, collected by Gallup primarily in 2023, was derived from self-reported surveys of more than 200,000 people in over 20 countries and published in the journal Nature Mental Health. The study was one of a collection of papers based on the inaugural wave of data from the Global Flourishing Study, a collaboration between researchers at Harvard and Baylor University. The study found that the participants had relatively low measures of flourishing on average until age 50. "It is a pretty stark picture," said lead author Tyler J. VanderWeele, of the study. The findings raise an important question, he said: "Are we sufficiently investing in the well-being of youth?" The condition was found to be similar in a number of countries, including the UK, Brazil, and Australia. But the difference between younger and older adults was largest in the US, The New York Times reported, citing the researchers. "Young adulthood has long been considered a carefree time, a period of limitless opportunity and few obligations. But data from the flourishing study and elsewhere suggests that for many people, this notion is more fantasy than reality," said The Times in its report about the study. "Study after study shows that social connection is critical for happiness, and young people are spending less time with friends than they were a decade ago," Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale and host of "The Happiness Lab" podcast, was quoted as saying. "Plus, like folks of all ages, young people are facing a world with a whole host of global issues, from climate to the economy to political polarisation," Santos added. Indo-Asian News Service
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Gen Z's angst is dismantling the long-established happiness curve and confounding researchers
The happiness curve has been a relatively predictable U-shape for a long time: You are at your happiest when you're young, then happiness declines in midlife, only to rise once again in old age. But researchers have discovered that the curve is flattening, as happiness is dipping earlier in life than it used to. The results came out of the Global Flourishing Study, a collaboration between researchers at Harvard and Baylor University who analyzed data collected by Gallup from more than 200,000 people in 22 countries. They discovered that, on average, young adults ages 18 to 29 were unhappy, while grappling with poor mental and physical health, negative perceptions of their own character, finding meaning in life, financial security, and the quality of their relationships. Using Harvard's Flourishing Measure—a composite of happiness and life satisfaction, physical and mental health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, and close social relationships—researchers determined how much each participant was flourishing in their life. Now, they found, the flourishing curve is flat until around age 50, when it begins to rise again. Researchers found this to be true across several countries, including the UK and Australia—but the well-being gap of younger and older adults was the widest in the U.S. 'It is a pretty stark picture,' Tyler J. VanderWeele, the lead author of the study and director of Harvard's Human Flourishing Program, told the New York Times. 'Are we sufficiently investing in the well-being of youth?' Recent research shows that life satisfaction and happiness have steadily been declining among young adults for the last decade. In the U.S., the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBSS) has reported a dramatic rise in anxiety and depression among American Gen Zers, especially young women. In 2023, 53% of female high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, compared with 28% of boys. 'Young people are not doing as well as they used to be,' the Global Flourishing Study authors wrote. 'While causes are likely diverse, mental health concerns with young adults are clearly on the rise.' A 2023 national survey from Harvard also found that young adults (ages 18 to 25), suffered from higher rates of anxiety and depression than younger teens. That study concluded the following factors were driving Gen Z's declining mental health: A lack of meaning and direction: The survey found that over half (58%) young adults reported that they lacked 'meaning or purpose' in their lives in the previous month, with half also reporting that their mental health was negatively influenced by 'not knowing what to do with my life.' Financial worries: 56% of young adults were concerned about their financial well-being. Pressure to achieve: Half of young adults expressed that achievement pressure was negatively influencing their mental health. Feeling that the world is falling apart: 45% of young adults reported that a general "sense that things are falling apart' caused their mental health to decline. Loneliness and social isolation: Nearly half (44%) of young adults reported a sense of not mattering to others, while 34% reported they were lonely. Social and political issues: Widespread issues such as climate change, gun violence in schools, and concerns about political leadership were among the topics weighing on Gen Z. For more on happiness: Researchers have followed over 700 people since 1938 to find the keys to happiness. Here's what they discovered Happier parents tap into this 1 emotion Americans under 30 are so miserable that the U.S. just fell to a historic low ranking in the annual World Happiness Report This story was originally featured on
