The Declining Mental Health of the Young and the Global Disappearance of the Hump Shape in Age in Unhappiness

45 Pages Posted: 16 Apr 2024 Last revised: 9 Nov 2024

See all articles by David G. Blanchflower

David G. Blanchflower

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); University of Stirling - Department of Economics

Alex Bryson

University College London; National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR)

Xiaowei Xu

Institute for Fiscal Studies

Date Written: April 2024

Abstract

Across many studies subjective well-being follows a U-shape in age, declining until people reach middle-age, only to rebound subsequently. Ill-being follows a mirror-imaged hump-shape. But this empirical regularity has been replaced by a monotonic decrease in illbeing by age. The reason for the change is the deterioration in young people’s mental health both absolutely and relative to older people. We reconsider evidence for this fundamental change in the link between illbeing and age with micro data for the United States and the United Kingdom. Beginning around 2011 there is a monotonic and declining cross-sectional association between well-being and age. In the UK the recent COVID pandemic exacerbated the trends by impacting most heavily on the wellbeing of the young, but this was not the case in the United States. We replicate the decrease in illbeing by age across 34 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, using five ill-being metrics for the period 2020-2024 and confirm the findings.

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Note:

Funding Information: United Nations.

Conflict of Interests: None.

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Suggested Citation

Blanchflower, David G. and Bryson, Alex and Xu, Xiaowei, The Declining Mental Health of the Young and the Global Disappearance of the Hump Shape in Age in Unhappiness (April 2024). NBER Working Paper No. w32337, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4794387

David G. Blanchflower (Contact Author)

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics ( email )

Hanover, NH 03755
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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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University of Stirling - Department of Economics ( email )

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United Kingdom

Alex Bryson

University College London ( email )

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United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/54820-alex-bryson

National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) ( email )

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United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.niesr.ac.uk/staff/staffdetail.php?StaffID=307

Xiaowei Xu

Institute for Fiscal Studies ( email )

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