Maite Garaigordobil Landazabal

Until now, perceived well-being followed a U-shaped curve depending on age, declining – due to worry, stress or depression – until people reached middle age, around 50, and then rebounding into old age. With malaise, the U is inverted and we talk about the ‘unhappiness curve’, shaped like a hump. Now, research published in PLOS One with data from the US and the UK claims that this age-related malaise is declining and that there is no longer such a hump. The reason for the change is said to be the deterioration of mental health among young people, especially those under 25. The study also includes data from 44 countries between 2020 and 2025, including Spain, and confirms that the malaise no longer takes the form of a hump, but decreases with age.

The number of adolescents with anxiety problems seems to be increasing, especially in developed countries. An opinion article published in the journal Science proposes that maternal stress, quality of care and environmental conditions in the early years, together with current social and technological changes, may contribute to explaining this trend. 

A meta-analysis, pooling the results of 40 previous studies - involving more than 310,000 children and adolescents in total - concludes that treatment rates for mental disorders in these age groups are "generally low, especially for depression and anxiety". The research, published in JAMA Network Open, shows that the treatment rate for any mental disorder is 38%, ranging from 31% for anxiety, 36% for depression, 49% for conduct disorders and 58% for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).