Overview

• The peer-reviewed PLOS One paper (published August 27, 2025) pools U.S., U.K. and Global Minds data from 44 countries and concludes mental ill-being now peaks in youth and declines with age.
• U.S. CDC/BRFSS data show severe distress among 18–24-year-olds rose sharply between 1993 and 2024, from 2.5% to 6.6% for men and from 3.2% to 9.3% for women, erasing the midlife hump seen in 2009–2018.
• Parallel patterns appear in U.K. longitudinal surveys and in nearly 2 million Global Minds responses, with the youngest adults reporting the highest distress and rates falling to very low levels in older age groups.
• The deterioration is greatest for young women, and the study emphasizes that causes are not settled, with proposed contributors including heavy smartphone and social media use, pandemic disruptions and economic pressures.
• Authors David G. Blanchflower, Alex Bryson and Xiaowei Xu call for urgent policy responses, such as limiting smartphones in schools, strengthening youth mental-health services and rebuilding in-person social connection, while noting some mechanistic findings remain preliminary.