How is mental health affecting Generation Zs ability to achieve?

January 18, 2018

By: Natalie Clarkson

In recent years, there has been much focus on millennials’ mental health, but there’s a whole new
generation behind them now. Generation Z has never known the world without the internet and
smartphones – how is that affecting their mental wellbeing.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, one in 10 children and young people in the UK are
affected by mental health problems. And 70 per cent of those have not had appropriate interventions
at a sufficiently early age – meaning that these children and young people will likely be carrying their
mental illnesses into adulthood.
Dr Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University, says that, psychologically,
Generation Z are “more vulnerable than millennials were”. Teen depression and suicide rates have
“skyrocketed” since 2011 and she says it’s “not an exaggeration to describe [Generation Z] as being
on the brink of the worst mental-health crisis in decades”. And much of this, she says, can be traced
back to their phones.

Image from gettyimages

We spoke to Helen Cutteridge, emotional wellbeing (self-harm) lead at Youthscape, to find out more
about young people’s mental health in the UK and how it is affecting their ability to succeed in life.
“Young people have higher rates of anxiety than ever before,” Cutteridge says. “The recent Childline
report suggests this, with 22 per cent of their counselling sessions last year around mental health,
22,400 young people told the service that they were contemplating ending their lives and 61 per cent
of children that they referred to other services had suicidal thoughts or feelings.”

While there are many reasons for this increase – including the fact that people are more aware of
mental health issues and more likely to report them – Cutteridge identifies one key issue. “Number on
would be social media,” she says. “Millennials knew a life before Facebook, Gen Z have never
experienced that, they are learning to live their lives with everyone watching and judging it.

“Everything is done through the filter of Snapchat or Instagram, and it’s constant. Young people aren’t
switching off from this. What’s more is Gen Z are comparing themselves to lives that don’t exist. They
know that celebrity lives are predominantly unrealistic but when they see people like Zoella become
famous because of their social media, it suddenly becomes more attainable. They are comparing
their lives to these photos that have taken a long time to take and had many filters added. They are
looking at themselves in the mirror and scrutinising themselves for not looking like that.”

But comparison isn’t the only issue that social media brings into the lives of young people. Cutteridge
also identifies the fact that young people today are more aware than ever before of what is going on
in the world. “It scares them. Gen Z is looking at the news and they are scared of the decisions that
world leaders are making,” she says. “They are worried about major natural disasters and they are
scared of terrorism. The bombing in Manchester last year in particular hit home, it suddenly became a
real life thought of ‘that could have been me’.”

But while all this is going on, Generation Z is also coming under more pressure to perform and to get
things right to prepare them for their careers. “A constantly changing education system, exams being
made harder, and needing to decide on their future in secondary school all add to this pressure,”
Cutteridge says. “University is the expectation for most school leavers but with tuition fees rising there
is a concern over affordability – yet schools still push for their students to attend.”

Many of the things Gen Z are struggling with impact their self-worth

As a result of this anxiety and worry, Generation Z’s ability to fulfil its potential is being diminished.
Cutteridge explains: “Many of the things Gen Z are struggling with impact their self-worth,
automatically making them question their ability to do things.”
Alongside this, young people’s habit of being online and connected constantly is, unsurprisingly,
affecting their sleep. “Sleep is essential for our bodies and minds to function as they should and with
the disturbed sleep pattern a large number of young people are functioning on, it means that they are
not able to access the full potential of their brains, as a result they struggle with concentration both in
school and out of it.”

So what can Generation Z do to look after themselves and give themselves the best chance of
success? Cutteridge has a few suggestions: “Sleep more, get a healthy diet, learn safety around
internet usage, spend more time outside and interacting with people in person engage in creative
activities to learn emotional language.

“Know that switching your phone off at night is a good thing and won’t cause the end of the world.
Concentrate on subjects and activities that make you happy, and remember that university isn’t the
only way to get a job or be successful.”
Generation Z’s Pursuit of Perfectionism
Could Affect Their Mental Health
By Victoria Kim 01/05/18
According to a new study, millennials are dealing with "excessively high personal
standards and overly critical self-evaluations."

The pursuit of perfectionism is more pervasive than ever, says new research, and it’s
negatively affecting young people’s mental health.
A new study published in the Psychological Bulletinobserved 41,641 college students from
the U.S., Canada, and England from 1999-2016, and identified three types of perfectionism—
defined overall as “a combination of excessively high personal standards and overly critical
self-evaluations.”
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The desire for perfectionism is especially pronounced in the United States, according to the
study, helped by the pervasive use of social media among the tech-savvy Generation Z.
“These people grew up being constantly evaluated on social media,” said Dr. Barbara
Greenberg, a clinical psychologist who specializes in family and relationship issues. “When
you are constantly under a literal and figurative microscope—the microscope being social
media—of course you are going to become more self-conscious. When self-consciousness
and perfectionism increase, anxiety and depression increase as well. They go hand in hand.”
The three types of perfectionism are as follows, as explained by Yahoo Lifestyle:

 Self-oriented perfectionism is the pressure one puts on oneself to be perfect.

 Socially-prescribed perfectionism is the pressure one feels from society to be perfect.
  Other-oriented perfectionism is the pressure one puts on others to be perfect.

These self-imposed pressures are positively associated with clinical depression, body image
issues (e.g. anorexia nervosa), social phobia, and even suicidal ideation.
To explain this modern obsession with perfection, the researchers point to a handful of
societal factors. “Neoliberalism and its doctrine of meritocracy have combined to shape a
culture in which everybody is expected to be perfect themselves and their lifestyles, by
striving to meet unrealistic achievement standards,” they wrote. “For parents, this new culture
confers an additional burden. On top of their own duty to succeed, they are also responsible
for the successes and failures of their children.”
Recent studies of teenagers and college students have painted a picture of rising depression,
anxiety, and self-harm. “These kids are incredibly anxious and perfectionistic,” said Suniya
Luthar, a professor of psychology at Arizona State University, according to the New York
Times.
There’s nothing wrong with self-improvement, but Dr. Greenberg says perfectionism is not a
natural goal for a human being with faults and flaws like everyone else. “It’s in and of itself a
problematic concept,” she said. “I think when young people are motivated, that’s a wonderful
thing. But motivation and perfectionism are not interchangeable. They are two very different
concepts, and unrelated."
"All I have seen come out of it is anxiety and depression," Greenberg continued.
"Perfectionism is laden with anxiety. You’re chasing after something very elusive, and of
course it leads to problems, because nobody can be perfect and nobody should be perfect.”
 Gen Z Is Anxious, Distrustful, and Often
Downright Miserable, New Poll Reveals
A new survey of teenagers and young adults makes for grim
reading. What's gone wrong?

CREDIT: Getty Images

For basically a decade now you haven't been able to spend five minutes online without coming across
some sort of post or opinion piece on the characteristics (and/or failings) of so-called Gen Y, aka
the millennials. Those roughly aged between 20-35 have been dissected and discussed ad nauseum.

But what about their little brothers and sisters?

Born between 1995-2015, the first of this next cohort, sometimes dubbed Gen Z, are now becoming
adults. Growing up fully wired and in the shadow of 9/11, what sort of mindset has the next
generation to hit workplaces developed? If a new, in-depth investigation by the UK's Guardian
newspaper is to be believed, the answer is a pretty dark one.

Here are some of the most startling findings from the paper's polling and interviews with young people
as reported by economist and author Noreena Hertz.

 They're pessimistic about their prospects: by a huge majority

they believe their lives will be more difficult than those of their
parents. 79 percent worry about getting a job while 72 percent worry
about debt.
  They're hugely anxious: and why not given the constant stream of
horrors on the news? 70 percent are worried about terrorism.
Symptoms of depression and anxiety are way up among this
generation. So are reports of self-harm.
 They're deeply distrustful of the government: only one-in-ten
trusts the government to do the right thing. The number among
millennials is a slightly rosier 20 percent. It will come as no shock
that they do love Bernie Sanders, however.
 Their opinions of business are even worse: a pathetic six percent
of Gen Z trust corporations to do the right thing. The number for
adults in general is 60 percent. "When asked what comes to mind
when they think of global corporations, they typically volunteer words
such as exploitative, selfish, arrogant, greedy, cheating and
untrustworthy," reports the Guardian.
 They think the system is rigged: "This generation does not believe
that life is a meritocracy. In fact, not one teenager surveyed agrees
with the statement that 'society is fair and everyone has an equal
chance'. Instead, they believe that it's the color of their skin, their
sex, their parents' economic status and their social standing that will
determine their future. Depressingly, the data bears this out," the
Guardian notes.
 They're not as selfish as sometimes feared: 92 percent believe
that helping others in need is important. 70 percent say inequality
worries them greatly.

How can you sum all this up? Perhaps one of the most telling details in Hertz's article is the name she
chooses for this generation. Eschewing the consensus pick, Gen Z, she goes with Gen K. Where
does the 'K' come from? "Katniss Everdeen, the determined heroine of the Hunger Games. Like
Katniss, they feel the world they inhabit is one of perpetual struggle--dystopian, unequal and harsh,"
she writes.

For those looking for actionable insight rather than straight up gloom, the article goes on to talk about
how this generation values authenticity and connection, and also delves into their identity as makers.
It's well worth checking out in full for basically anyone curious about what's coming down the pike for
employers, marketers, and citizens in general.
Of course, it should be noted that this is all coming from a British paper. Could American teens and
very young adults be more optimistic than their counterparts in the UK? Possibly, but other research
suggests that's pretty unlikely. Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University,
has collected vast quantities of data on the mental health of young people. The verdict is pretty grim.
Her work "indicates a lot of suffering," Twenge told Quartz, recently.

What's gone wrong to make young people so unhappy and anxious? And what needs to be done
about it?

PUBLISHED ON: MAR 23, 2016