Generational differences in mental health trends in the twenty-first century-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Generational differences in mental health trends in the twenty-first century

Published:2023-11-27 Issue:49 Volume:120 Page:
ISSN:0027-8424
Container-title:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
language:en
Short-container-title:Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Author:

Botha Ferdi¹²^ORCID,Morris Richard W.¹³^ORCID,Butterworth Peter⁴⁵^ORCID,Glozier Nick¹³^ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4068, Australia

2. Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3052, Australia

3. Central Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

4. National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia

5. Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia

Abstract

Given the observed deterioration in mental health among Australians over the past decade, this study investigates to what extent this differs in people born in different decades—i.e., possible birth cohort differences in the mental health of Australians. Using 20 y of data from a large, nationally representative panel survey ( N = 27,572), we find strong evidence that cohort effects are driving the increase in population-level mental ill-health. Deteriorating mental health is particularly pronounced among people born in the 1990s and seen to a lesser extent among the 1980s cohort. There is little evidence that mental health is worsening with age for people born prior to the 1980s. The findings from this study highlight that it is the poorer mental health of Millennials that is driving the apparent deterioration in population-level mental health. Understanding the context and changes in society that have differentially affected younger people may inform efforts to ameliorate this trend and prevent it continuing for emerging cohorts.

Funder

Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course

Publisher

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Subject

Multidisciplinary

Link

https://pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2303781120

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