Dr Michelle Dickinson: nanotechnologist on the new phenomenon that took over the mid-life crisis - The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

For decades, researchers have documented a curious pattern in happiness, where people tend to start adult life feeling relatively positive, dip into unhappiness during middle age, and then rebound later in life.  

Psychologists called it the 'unhappiness hump' and the rest of us called it a mid-life crisis, referring to a midlife peak in stress, worry, and dissatisfaction that eventually faded as people aged. 

But new research suggests that this once-universal feature of human psychology (and men buying sports cars) has all but disappeared. And the reason isn’t that middle-aged people have found new ways to thrive, sadly - it’s that younger generations are suffering more than ever before. 

A new study published in PLOS ONE has found that the classic U-shaped curve of happiness and its mirror-image hump of unhappiness has flattened.  

The researchers analysed decades of mental health data, including 10 million adults in the United States from 1993-2024, 40,000 households in the United Kingdom, as well as 2 million people from 44 other countries, uncovering a dramatic shift in global well-being trends. 

Their analysis revealed that the familiar midlife rise in unhappiness, once a psychological constant, has vanished.  

Instead, mental ill-being now tends to decline with age, meaning that young people today report the worst mental health, and things generally improve as people get older. 

Older adults’ mental health has stayed roughly the same, and middle-aged adults show little change. What’s new is the sharp drop in well-being among younger generations. 

The causes of this reversal are complex and still being explored, but the study highlights several interlocking factors. 

• The Great Recession’s ripple effects: Economic instability and uncertain job prospects may have left “scarring effects” on younger cohorts entering the workforce after 2008. 
• Underfunded mental health services: In both the U.S. and U.K., access to timely mental health care has lagged behind need, allowing problems to worsen over time. 
• The COVID-19 pandemic: While the downward trend in youth well-being began before 2020, the pandemic accelerated feelings of isolation, anxiety, and hopelessness  particularly among younger people. 
• The rise of smartphones and social media: The study notes growing evidence linking heavy social media use with poorer mental health, driven by constant comparison, fear of missing out, and distorted self-perception. Some researchers have even suggested limiting smartphone access for teens as a possible intervention, though debate continues. 
• Housing and financial pressures: Younger generations face tougher labour markets, skyrocketing housing costs, and rising living expenses  all of which may erode a sense of security and optimism about the future. 

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