The discomfort has long been perceived as a compulsory passage from the living environment, a dark crossing that we readily associated with the crisis of the quarantine. This idea, anchored in collective representations, today seems to lose all validity. A discreet but deep reversal takes place in international data, revealing a generational rocking. The low point is no longer halfway through but at the threshold of adulthood, placing the mental health of young people at the heart of contemporary concerns.
By relying on more than 10 million responses from surveys carried out by disease control and prevention centers in the United States since 1993, and on British data collected between 2009 and 2023, the researchers observed a disappearance of the famous discomfort felt around the forties. In its place emerges a curve where discomfort decreases regularly with age, revealing a marked deterioration in the youngest, while the oldest retain a stable level.
Which makes young people more vulnerable today
This trend reversal does not seem to be linked to an improvement in the elderly condition, but to a rapid worsening of discomfort in those under 25. The curves compiled by the authors show an explosion of feelings of despair, anxiety and suicidal thoughts in young women, but also in men, from adolescence.
Several researchers advance different tracks to explain this rocking. The first refers to the economic sequelae of the 2008 great recession. Many cohorts have entered the world of work when it contracts, resulting in revenue stagnation, increased precariousness and blocked prospects. These conditions may have generated a scar effect, durable and difficult to reversible.
Another factor invoked is the shortage of mental health care, in particular from the financial post-financial budget cuts. The COVVI-19 pandemic has amplified these effects, reducing access to therapists and lengthening the time limits. Psychological symptoms have tended to settle longer without treatment, helping to inflate the figures for the malaise felt.
Finally, digital technologies are at the heart of concerns. The massive use of social networks and smartphones coincides with the arrows of anxiety among adolescents. The study quotes work in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain, based on natural experiments, which show that the proliferation of broadband and Facebook Internet has had a direct impact on the well-being of young people, in particular young women. Constant exposure to idealized content, social comparisons and permanent notifications alters self -perception and personal satisfaction.
The mental health of young people becomes a planetary issue
Analysis is not limited to Anglo-Saxon countries. By crossing nearly 2 million data from 44 countries-from Latin America to the Middle East, passing through Africa and South Asia-the researchers found a general disappearance of the bump of discomfort in his forties. In its place, a regular decline in psychological distress over the age. In all the areas studied, young women combine the most worrying indicators, whether suicidal thoughts, anxiety disorders or intense emotional episodes.
This trend is confirmed in the Global Minds survey, controlled between 2020 and 2025, which attributes a mental well-being score with each respondent. On this scale relayed by Iflscience, 48% of under 25 are classified as clinically at risk, against only 21% of women over 25 years of age. Even more worrying, 13% of young surveyed reach a level of “severe distress”, with a major impact on their daily operation.
These results call for an in -depth revision of our prevention policies. Age is no longer protection against discomfort, but an inverted risk factor. The ancient generational landmarks are shattering, and it is now from the threshold of adulthood that the greatest psychic fragility is tied.
With an unwavering passion for local news, Christopher leads our editorial team with integrity and dedication. With over 20 years’ experience, he is the backbone of Wouldsayso, ensuring that we stay true to our mission to inform.
