For many young people, especially Generation Z, what they were often told would be the greatest years of their lives has turned out to be something entirely different.
For starters, America has a huge loneliness problem that is affecting young adults a lot more than older generations. Just 17% of U.S. adults younger than 30 report that they have deep social connections. And the decades-old, U-shaped happiness curve is changing, now that young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 seem to be less happy than people in their 40s and 50s.
Twenty-somethings are finishing school, entering the work force and, if they’re lucky, moving out of their parents’ houses. It’s a time where “young people have a tough go of it, the world is messy and hard, and a lot is expected,” says Sadie Salazar, therapist and COO of Sage Therapy.
Unlike previous generations, Gen Z are confronting significant challenges and frustrations—what many are calling the “quarter-life crisis”—at an unexpectedly early age.
“I don’t envy Gen Z. Surely every generation that has come before will say, ‘I, too, had to transition through the seasons of life,’” says Salazar, who is a Millennial in her 30s.
