SALT LAKE CITY — Millennials can add improving their mental health to the list of reasons why they should accomplish certain life milestones in a certain order, according to a new study from the Family Research Institute.
Wendy Wang, the institute’s director of research, said the “success sequence,” which consists of graduating high school, getting a job, getting married and having children, provides a “huge boost for mental health.” Samuel T. Wilkinson, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University.
Although many studies have touted this sequence as key to avoiding poverty and reducing the risk of divorce, Wilkinson, who is also associate director of Yale’s Depression Research Program, said the study likely This will be the first to focus on the effects on human health. he told the Deseret News.
Wang said he focused on young people born between 1980 and 1984 who were surveyed in their mid-30s, and studied three groups of millennials: those who married before having children; those who had children without marriage, and those who did not have children without marriage. I don’t have any children. The analysis revealed the following:
- The majority (97%) of Millennials who achieved success did not live in poverty as adults, and 9 out of 10 were at least middle class.
- As each step in the series is completed, emotional distress decreases. Thirty percent of young people who miss a complete set of steps are distressed, but the same is true for only 9% of young people who complete three steps.
of report“Order of Success and the Mental Health of Millennials,” found that young people who married while having children had better mental health than those who had children before or before marriage. They are also happier and have better mental health than people who are never married and don’t have children. They found that people who married before having children (12%) were less likely to experience “major psychological distress” by their mid-30s than those who had children first (19%). That’s what it means. And more followers of this sequence report feeling healthy (65% vs. 52%) and feeling happy at least most of the time (82% vs. 74%).
“In other words, the mental health and overall physical health of people who have had children before or outside of marriage appears to be similar to those who have never been married and have no children. What stands out is “This is a group of people who have previously been married and have children,” Wang said.
mental health crisis
This report was released at a time when mental health According to the report, “Deaths from suicide, anxiety, depression, and drug overdoses are all increasing to record levels. Young people are being hit particularly hard in this crisis. Millennial men and Women of the same age are experiencing more anxiety and depression than ever before. ”
While Wang and Wilkinson acknowledged the impact of financial well-being on mental health, they said it’s not the whole story. They point out that even when controlling for income, the findings regarding the order of success in improving mental health held up. “This order remains an important factor in predicting adult mental health,” the researchers wrote.
“After controlling for a variety of background factors such as income, gender, race, and family, young people who completed the three steps of the success sequence were approximately 50% less likely to experience major psychological distress by their mid-30s. Background,” they added.
Wilkinson said he hopes young people will take notice. In the midst of a mental health crisis, people are trying to figure out what makes a difference. “This is a very complex question and there is no one answer, but young people often see a series of successes as a kind of sales pitch for developing desirable life goals and plans. We hope it will help them achieve better financial outcomes and better mental health.”
Key points of the research
The two used the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to analyze the 1997 cohort to find out what life was like for people in their 30s. These young people were born between 1980 and 1984 and are considered the oldest Millennials. This group was first surveyed in 1997 when they were 12 to 17 years old, then annually from 1997 to 2011, and biennially thereafter.
The 18th round of the survey, with 6,734 respondents still participating, is the focus of the institute’s analysis. The survey results were weighted to be nationally representative.
To examine mental health, they used a shortened five-item version of the Mental Health Inventory included in the National Longitudinal Study of Youth. It measures “the risk of suffering from anxiety and depression, loss of control over behavior and emotions, and overall psychological well-being.” Respondents were asked about how they felt in the past month through a set of five questions, including whether they felt nervous or calm and peaceful. , I was depressed and blue, happy, and depressed to the point that nothing I did could cheer me up. ”
Those surveyed answered on a four-point scale how often they felt this way.
The researchers found that “the incidence of high psychological distress between the ages of 32 and 38 decreases dramatically with each successive step completed. Millennials who completed all three steps did not “They were much less likely to experience high levels of psychological distress by their mid-30s compared to the rest of the population.” these steps were neglected (9% vs. 30%). ”
