Why Are So Many Young People Unhappy? Part 2

A young woman, who tried to drown herself but was pulled from the water by two swimmers, sits crying as one of the swimmers calms down her at the shore of the Hanjiang River in Wuhan of Hubei Province, China, on July 25, 2007. China Photos/Getty Images

Commentary

I began part one of “Why Are So Many Young People Unhappy?“ with data showing the apparently unprecedentedly high rate of unhappiness among young people in America (and elsewhere, but I am focusing on America). The rates of suicide, self-injury, depression, mass shootings, and loneliness (at all ages) are higher than ever recorded. It seems that Americans may have been happier, and certainly less lonely, during the Great Depression and World War II than today, even with today’s unprecedentedly high levels of health, longevity, education, and material well-being.