Global survey finds mental health languishing 'here and now', especially in youth

New Delhi: A study conducted among 50,000 people across 92 countries has found that global mental health may not be a concern for an uncertain future, but could be languishing "here and now", especially among young people, who in previous generations had comparatively higher levels of mental health.

The online survey, published in the journal Social Indicators Research, found that globally mental health scores appear to be dragged down by responses from younger people who lack fundamental aspects of well-being, particularly lower vitality, emotional stability, and resilience.

However, the team of 261 researchers found positive signs for older people and, more broadly, for how people of all ages view their relationships and sense of meaning.


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"These findings are more than just a sign to policymakers that solutions are necessary to improve mental health among young people or those struggling to make ends meet," lead author Kai Ruggeri, professor of health policy and management at Columbia University's school of public health, said.

"In fact, they are a flashing red light that entire populations are already struggling and feel their resilience is diminished here and now, not only a concern for an uncertain future," he said.

Respondents answered 10 questions about mental health, capturing various dimensions, including feelings of competence, optimism, self-esteem, positive emotion, engagement, and vitality, among others.

Additional measures of common mental disorders such as stress, depression, and anxiety, as well as overall life satisfaction, were recorded. The researchers also collected demographic information on age, sex, wealth, employment, and more.

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"Leaders can no longer use vague platitudes that hand-wave toward investing in non-specific mental health initiatives," Ruggeri said.

Specific commitments to significant actions are required -- ensure livelihoods in the face of AI-driven job losses, address factors driving burnout in young and working-age populations, and take steps that will generate confidence toward future opportunities -- and all of this needs to be underpinned with an improving access to care for mental illness, the lead author said.

"Failure to do so is not just a threat for the future, but for here and now," he said.

The highest-scoring mental health dimensions were relationships, meaning, competence, engagement, and self-esteem.

The result finding may indicate that individuals self-assess positively but are negative about external factors driving down well-being, the researchers said.

In other words, they may feel generally positive about their personal circumstances and experiences, but events beyond their control (political and economic instability) are causing significant harm (fear, stress, burnout), they said.

The authors wrote, "... a number of concerning trends also emerge, particularly the poor results for young adults and generally moderate results for employed individuals."

"In sum, we find an alarming but perhaps unsurprisingly low level of positive mental health in a substantial number of countries, but also identify specific economic, social, and other indicators that policymakers could target in improving the well-being of the populations they serve," they said.