2023-11-28 16:39:00
A study shows that people born in the 1990s have worse mental health than any previous generation.
Researchers from the University of Sydney in Australia used surveys to track the mental health of nearly 30,000 adults over a decade. Daily Mail.
They found that not only did the younger generation fare worse, but their emotional problems showed little signs of improvement over the course of the study – unlike the older generations.
The researchers said social media, which made participants feel like they were not good enough, was primarily to blame.
The researchers analyzed survey responses between 2010 and 2020 to examine how the mental health of those born in each decade from the 1940s to the 1990s changed as they grew older.
They then compared the mental health of each birth group at the same age.
The study’s lead author, Dr Richard Morris, a senior research fellow at the Faculty of Medicine and Health, said it has long been suspected that people in their 30s are more likely to develop mental illness than those in their 50s.
But he adds that this is the first time scientists have shown a difference in birth cohorts.
“The mental health of younger generations of people born in the 1990s — and to some extent in the 1980s — is worse by age than older generations, and they are not showing that improvement that we typically see in those older generations,” he said.
Dr Peter Baldwin, a senior researcher at the Black Dog Institute, said technology was largely to blame.
Dr Baldwin said people born in the 1980s had the internet, but those born in the 1990s had social media, which brought with it a “deluge” of social comparisons that are very harmful to mental health.
“What young minds really want to know is: ‘Do I belong?’ and ‘Am I good enough?’” He added: “If you open Instagram and see 100 models, athletes and entrepreneurs, it will be very difficult to measure.”
Meta, which runs Instagram and Facebook, has been sued by 33 states for “contributing to the youth mental health crisis” by exposing children and teens to social media addiction.
Another study found that just 90 seconds of viewing thin bodies on social media can worsen young women’s mental health.
A previous report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that as many as a third of Americans in some parts of the country suffer from depression.
The Australian study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
1701197210
#study #confirms #psychological #mental #health #born #1990s #worse #generation..