A study released Thursday by San Diego State University indicated that the future may not be met with a positive outlook for today’s college students.
The study, which analyzed data compiled between 1974 and 2014, found that the once positive correlation between age and level of happiness is now on the decline. The correlation has been weakening since around 2010, according to the study. The researchers measured happiness by evaluating how people experience the quality of their lives, and included both emotional reactions and cognitive judgments.
The year 2010 also marked the first period in which the Generation Y population, those born between the early 1980s and early 2000s, began to enter their 30s.
Members of Generation Y were born during a period in which children were told they could be anything they wanted to be, said Ryne Sherman, a member of the research team and a professor at Florida Atlantic University. The study said this overarching attitude may have led to “increasingly unrealistic” expectations regarding education, jobs and relationships, and Generation Y is now suffering from disappointment.
Sherman also expressed that he believes this attitude is likely a candidate for explaining the decline in happiness due to the timing of Generation Y’s entrance into adulthood. The study said that the recession of the late 2000s may have affected mature adults more than, say, adolescents who were still in school.
“People over 30 are more likely to lose [their] home or a job,” Sherman said, referring to the older members of Generation Y.
The study also explored whether or not it is better to set high expectations and risk disappointment or to keep expectations low. Casey Guillard, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she believes people should “keep expectations low, [so] you won’t have your hopes up if you end up failing.”
On the other hand, Sarah Oppenheimer, president of Boston University’s Undergraduate Psychology Association and a senior in CAS, said she believes that people should avoid having low expectations because of the decrease in efficiency it causes. The level of expectations, she said, is a matter of “what you value more — productivity or happiness.”
The study also noted the possibility of new technologies such as social media and cell phones improving the lives of younger generations while having a harsher effect on older adults.
“Happiness is a comparison game, [and] social media is a way to compare yourself to other people,” Oppenheimer said.
With the effect of social media in mind, the study said that people may exhibit signs of happiness due to the excitement of being included when they integrate themselves into the adult world through this medium. The study also expanded on the possibility of individualism compromising “social support,” therefore leading to more disappointment.
Oppenheimer noted that while the quick building of relationships between young people in both social media and real life may be satisfying in the moment, it loses gratification in adulthood when the maintenance of relationships becomes more important.
Sherman touched on this as well, speculating that when individuals cannot control the circumstances of a time period in their life, they can adjust their mindset in order to better cope with their hardships. He also said that while this mindset may create less short-term happiness, it seems to have positive effects.
“People who have adversity,” he said, “now will be better prepared for adversity later.”
