Researchers are sounding the alarm about mental health problems among Gen Z Americans. Nearly half of adults ages 18 to 28 have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.
Naturally, many experts are quick to blame the economy for making people stressed, anxious, or depressed — and it’s certainly true that everything from gas and groceries to housing and childcare has gotten more expensive. But as John Stonestreet pointed out last year, “Studies show that once our most basic needs are met, there is no significant difference in levels of reported happiness in correlation with level of income. In other words, money can buy security, but it cannot buy happiness.”
For Gen Z, meaninglessness and loneliness seem to be serious problems driving this mental health crisis. The American Psychological Association’s latest Stress in America survey says:
“Half of adults ages 18–29 (50%) reported feeling that their relationships were not meaningful, significantly higher than adults ages 30–45 (39%), 46–61 (30%) and 62–80 (18%). These findings suggest that many younger adults may be struggling not only with stress itself, but also with maintaining social connections that could serve as a support system, often helping people cope with it.”
The survey also notes that roughly two-thirds of young adults now regularly use AI to converse like a friend or discuss relationships.
Earlier this year a separate study found that a troubling 52% of Gen Z are experiencing an existential crisis of meaning.
So how did this epidemic of loneliness and meaninglessness happen — and what’s the solution?
Jean Twenge actually anticipated many of these mental health problems among Gen Z in a 2017 column at The Atlantic. In it, Twenge described high schoolers who spend most of their free time alone in their rooms using Snapchat and social media apps instead of going out with friends. As one teen put it at the time, “I think we like our phones more than we like actual people.”
Twenge described these kids as “safer, physically, than adolescents have ever been. But they’re on the brink of a mental-health crisis.” The most obvious culprit was the overuse of social media and smartphones.
Today, we know that much of that technology Twenge talked about was — and is — not good for kids. In his consumer protection lawsuits against Meta and Snapchat, Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has accused tech platforms of deliberately “[manipulating] attention and psychological behavior” and using algorithms designed “to exploit human psychology and foster addiction to maximize users’ screen time.”
A growing body of evidence shows that social media platforms may deliberately addict users, promote objectionable content, and put people’s personal information at risk.
With all of that in mind, it may come as no surprise that Gen Z was harmed by using this technology during their childhood and teen years.
But there is a second, larger issue that may be driving young adults to feel their lives don’t have meaning: Disconnection from faith and family.
Research from the Institute for Family Studies shows that since 2000, unhappiness among young adults has more than doubled. Socializing is down more than 50%, and two-thirds of young people are not in any serious relationship.
IFS writes, “Anxiety, depression and anti-social behavior are way up, especially among young people. An increasing number of them hold catastrophic views of the world and report a lack of agency over their own lives.”
But researchers identified two groups of young people who are thriving: Young adults who are married or religious.
Married and religious young adults were five times more likely to say they were “very happy” compared to their secular, unmarried peers.
Religious young men finished college and trade school at far higher rates than non-religious men and were almost twice as likely to report a sense of purpose and meaning in life.
In other words, faith and family actually give people a sense of purpose. Or as the Institute for Family Studies put it, “faith and family remain two of the strongest bulwarks against loneliness and despair.”
Maybe that’s part of the reason pollsters have found many young adults are turning to Christianity, going to church, and reading the Bible.
Of course Christianity is more than just an antidote for loneliness. It’s the true faith. Believers get to experience connection not only with one another, but with their Creator and Savior. Still, in the midst of a serious mental health crisis, it’s important to recognize the causes — and the solutions.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
