Carlos Solis
The midlife crisis has been a central theme in countless books and films for decades. It has also served as a convenient scapegoat for many personal troubles. However, that may no longer be the case.
Numerous studies over the years have examined this phenomenon, which typically peaks around the age of 47 and is often accompanied by feelings of anxiety, stress, and depression.
A team of researchers from Dartmouth College — a private Ivy League university in the U.S. — argue that the pattern may be changing.
Why do experts believe the midlife crisis is a thing of the past?
The researchers link the fading midlife crisis to worsening mental health among younger people in recent years.
In other words, while the midlife crisis still exists, it has shifted to younger people. “The level of unhappiness among young people is now higher than it was in the past. This is a monumental shift compared to previous years when the peak of mental health issues occurred in middle age. We are concerned that there is now a serious mental health crisis among young people,” the team wrote.
Studies conducted worldwide since 2008 have shown that our well-being tends to follow a U-shaped curve as we age. Generally, well-being is quite high in childhood, then begins to decline until around age 50. At this point, feelings of unhappiness peak, and then, in older age, well-being improves again.
In their new study, the team tested whether that U-shaped trend still appears in the United Kingdom and the United States. The team surveyed more than 10 million adults in the U.S. and 40,000 British families, according to the Daily Mail.
What did the research reveal?
The results confirmed that feelings of dissatisfaction with life have largely disappeared among middle-aged participants, while there has been a noticeable decline in mental health among younger individuals.
Why is this happening? The researchers proposed several grim theories. They suggested that it could be related to the long-term effects of the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 (the Great Recession), particularly the worsening job prospects for young people.
In their report, the team wrote: “As the labor market did not recover quickly after the Great Recession, as evidenced by stagnant real wages, subsequent cohorts of new entrants to the market may have been affected by these shocks.”
Another theory points to mental health issues exacerbated by the pandemic.
Ultimately, the team speculates that young people’s dissatisfaction is significantly influenced by the spread of smartphones. “The third hypothesis relates to the advent of smartphone technology and how it has affected young people’s perceptions of themselves and their lives compared to how their peers portray their lives on social media,” the team said.
The team says that seeing others’ happy lives on social media “can lead to even greater dissatisfaction with one’s own life.” So what can be done about the global decline in mental well-being among young people? The researchers don’t yet have answers, but they are determined to find them.
The findings of the study were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Photo: Unsplash
