Gen Z young adults face double the depression and anxiety of teens, Harvard report finds

Young adults in the United States are experiencing anxiety and depression at twice the rate of teens, with more than half reporting that their lives lack meaning or purpose, according to a new report from Harvard University.

The report, called "On Edge: Understanding and Preventing Young Adults' Mental Health Challenges," was released Tuesday by the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Making Caring Common project.

It's based on a national survey the researchers conducted in December 2022, with responses from 709 young adults aged 18 to 25 years old, nearly 400 teens between 14 and 17 years old, and almost 750 parents and caregivers.

Calling the findings about the emotional struggles of Generation Z young adults "alarming," the researchers said 29% of them reported experiencing depression, versus 15% of teens; 36% of young adults reported anxiety, compared to 18% of teens.

In the survey, 58% of young adults reported experiencing little or no purpose or meaning in their lives in the previous month. More than half reported that financial worries and pressure to achieve negatively affect their mental health.

Researchers also found loneliness and a "sense of not mattering to others" were factors among more than one-third of young adult respondents.

The report's lead author, Richard Weissbourd, said the survey found higher rates of depression and anxiety among Black and Hispanic young adults and those in under-resourced communities than among white and Asian young adults.

"[For] young people in low-income communities who have been dealing with classism or racism or lack of opportunity — who are cut off from health care, from high quality schools — lack of meaning and purpose is high in those communities because people are contending with those things.

"I think what's going on in affluent communities can be quite different," he said. "I think it can be this sort of single, narrow-minded focus on selective colleges, on high-status internships. These things can squeeze out meaning and purpose."

The survey also examined how larger societal and world issues impact young adults' mental health. It found close to half of respondents reported a general "sense that things are falling apart." About one-third or more reported gun violence in schools, climate change and corruption or incompetence among political leaders as having a negative impact on their mental health.

"I do think there is this feeling like things are spinning out of control," said Weissbourd. "And young adults express — and this was hopeful — quite a lot of faith in each other to combat some of the problems, the pressing problems that this country is facing. They express significantly less faith in older adults to do that."

Dr. Christine Crawford, an adult, child and adolescent psychiatrist at Boston Medical Center, said the report's findings correspond with what she sees in her practice.

"This transitional period [to adulthood] has always been the same, but young people [now] are consistently being inundated by messages of what's happening to the world, the environment, and that's further fueling some of the mood-related symptoms they're experiencing," she said.

She added that heightened anxiety among parents and the trend in recent decades of an "all hands on deck, micromanaging" style of parenting have led to young people not being as well prepared to enter adulthood.

Crawford said she sits on an outside advisory committee, made up of health care providers and others, that Harvard's Making Caring Common project consults once a year to hear about the trends they're seeing. She was not involved in the report or any of the project's other research.

Weissbourd stressed that the findings shouldn't lessen anyone's concern surrounding younger teens' mental health. The survey found significant rates of depression and anxiety among teens aged 14 to 17. But that age group has been studied a lot and was a focus of public conversation, particularly in the pandemic.

Despite the concerning findings, there are reasons for hope, Weissbourd said.

"The positive side is that teens and young adults may be more psychologically aware and articulate than any generation in history, and more open about talking about emotional problems," he said. "For decades, people have suffered silently and terribly who have experienced depression and anxiety, and this is the generation that's talking about it."

Building connections can help young people fend off mental health challenges, according to the report. Young adults said they've found meaning in strong relationships — 40% reported becoming closer to one of their parents during the pandemic — and through serving others.

Weissbourd said he hopes the report will refocus attention on young adulthood as a "precarious" stage of development and the different ways colleges, employers and others can engage young adults and provide support to them.