By Col. Bill Connor ——Bio and Archives--March 27, 2024
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The 2024 Gallup Poll of “happiness” by country portends an ominous downward trend in the United States. Until recent years, the United States consistently ranked in the top 10 “happiest” countries in the world. In the last couple of years, that ranking dipped below 10 but not by much. Last year, for example, Gallup ranked the U.S. at number 15.
Astonishingly, this year that number came all the way down to 23. Even more concerning was the burgeoning and ahistoric “age” gap shown in the survey. According to Gallup, Americans 60-and-over still rank in the top 10 in the world, while those under 30 ranked all the way down at a dismal 62. Based on these trends, we can expect the numbers to continue to plummet unless we discover the reason for such youth unhappiness and find a way to turn it around.
First, we should consider other data, beyond this survey, proving the steep drop in the happiness of American young. According to a report by Mental Health America, the suicide rate for males and females aged 15-24 has tripled since 1960 and “Adolescent depression is increasing at an alarming rate. Recent surveys indicate that as many as one in five teens suffers from clinical depression.”
According to the CDC, over the past decade there has been a 60 percent increase in girls who have seriously considered suicide. Other surveys have shown that in the past decade adolescent depression has doubled. Bottom line is young Americans are quickly becoming more depressed, anxious and reaching a hopelessness that is spiking rates of suicide.
From a recent article in Fortune magazine, it is clear that perceptions of American decline have dampened hope in the future and correspond to such great youth unhappiness: “Recent surveys suggest that many Americans are losing faith in the future of the nation. A 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center found at least two-thirds of Americans believe that by 2050, America will become economically weaker, less important in the world, and more politically divided. A 2023 Wall Street Journal-NORC survey found that nearly 80 percent of Americans do not expect life for their children’s generation to be better than it has been for their own generation….. Only 56 percent of Americans are hopeful for the future of the U.S.”
One answer to why the young are so unhappy is their perceived bleak future in a diminished America.
What doesn’t seem clear is why older Americans would remain so much happier than young Americans despite the widespread perceptions of American decline. An answer to older Americans remaining so much happier is their stronger religious faith. According to the Survey Center on American Life: “In terms of identity, Generation Z is the least religious generation yet. More than one-third (34 percent) of Generation Z are religiously unaffiliated, a significantly larger proportion than among millennials (29 percent) and Generation X (25 percent). Fewer than one in five (18 percent) baby boomers and only 9 percent of the silent generation are religiously unaffiliated. (Gen Z) are also far more likely to identify as atheist or agnostic. Eighteen percent of Gen Z affirmatively identify as either atheist (9 percent) or agnostic (9 percent). In contrast, fewer than one in 10 (9 percent) baby boomers and 4 percent of the silent generation identifies as atheist or agnostic.”
Both the old and young are feeling the bad economy and apparent hopeless national future, yet the group with more faith in God remains happier.
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Along with happiness that accompanies faith in God is the corresponding hope that comes with that faith. The more religious Americans of prior generations went through much tougher “apparent” hopelessness in the national future. During the Great Depression unemployment ran to 24.9 percent. With little social welfare, a substantial portion of the U.S. population was homeless and living in fear of starvation. After the decade of that horrific ordeal, those Americans had to fight World War II in an existential battle to the death. Despite these much tougher conditions and reason for hopelessness, Americans kept faith in God and remained a generally happy and grateful people. Religion encourages thankfulness despite trials and hope in God’s blessings over future bleakness. History shows that happiness and hope through belief in God brings a better future. Franklin Roosevelt rightly told America at the darkest point of the Great Depression: “All we have to fear is fear itself.” The same can be said of hopelessness and unhappiness.
It’s time for America to pull together as the “One Nation Under God” of our national motto. The younger need to follow the older in putting faith in God first and encouraging gratefulness for the smallest of life’s blessings. Happiness is not only something we should seek individually, but as a nation. As the Apostle Paul put it in Romans 5: “We also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint”. Let’s seek that kind of hope and happiness for the future of our young.
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