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Forget red Porsches, promiscuous escapades and questionable clothing choices. The real sign of a midlife crisis seems to be a very serious issue that is difficult to solve, and Americans seem to face it more often than their peers.
In the late 1950s, a psychoanalyst named Elliott Jaques was the first to argue that people in their mid-30s, primarily men, could experience a year-long bout of depression brought on by the realization of one’s own mortality. Thus, the “mid-life crisis” was born, manifested by a sudden urge to seize control of individual circumstances and to reinvent oneself in increasingly unlikely ways.
Due to the long life expectancy, the onset of symptoms is thankfully not static at 35, but regardless of when people enter their midlife crisis, evidence of the phenomenon has been observed around the world. Jaques himself was born in Canada, and he was the first presented his thesis in 1957 to the British Psycho-Analytical Society in London. But in the decades since, while some countries have taken steps to reduce the burden of midlife depression in their society, mental health for the middle aged has become a clear problem in America.
While older adults in many modern countries have seen their health and fitness improve or even improve, Americans born between the 1930s and 1970s fared relatively worse, according to a study published on Monday in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Scienceled by researchers at Arizona State University. Topping the list of afflictions are unprecedented levels of loneliness, depression and cognitive decline.
“It’s not just about buying a sports car. It’s just, ‘How am I going to get through life?'” Frank Infurna, a psychologist at Arizona State and the lead author of the study, said. luck.
It’s not the lifestyle, it’s the system
The study compared American adults who are members of the Silent Generation or early Gen-Xers with peers in Mexico and 15 other countries in Europe and Asia. The research relies on metrics that include loneliness, depressive symptoms, memory and grip strength to assess physical health.
In all four categories, late-born Americans fared the same or worse, the only country where that pattern was observed. While in most of the world social policies have helped alleviate the root causes of midlife crises, the same is not true in the US, the researchers found.
The authors write that a series of “upstream” factors—including access to health care, income inequality and paid parental leave—leave Americans increasingly vulnerable. In fact, public spending on child and family benefits in the EU increased 50.9% between 2000 and 2022, while in the US it mostly remains stagnant. It’s a similar story for income inequality. An analysis of 2022 The US Government Accountability Office found that income and wealth disparities among Americans older than 55 are wider than their peers in Canada, Germany or the UK. own set of financial struggles.
The US also stands alone. While the younger age groups are often considered to be loneliest demographicolder Americans are no strangers to loneliness. In a study of loneliness among 29 countries last year, the US came out as one of only two countries where middle-aged people are lonelier than older generations.
The midlife crisis trap
Some research has defiantly argued that the mid-life crisis has disappeared in the 21st century, replaced by a quarter-life crisis as 20-somethings struggle with the rise of “despair,” and that this is an economic phenomenon. In the work of David Blanchflower and Alex Bryson, former member of lucka pervasive sense of meaninglessness drives dissatisfaction with work and therefore life.
Seen under that lens, something similar can happen in middle age, although it doesn’t fit neatly into a stereotypical midlife crisis. Instead of impulsive purchases and behaviors, people in the midst of a midlife crisis struggle with issues at the kitchen table, including taking care of their physical and mental health and supporting relatives.
“I think you could call it a different kind of crisis, but not one centered around a sports car or a general flip of someone’s career,” Infurna said. “It’s about managing your finances, your health, your caregiving responsibilities with your aging parents or your adult children who have returned home.”
The argument of Blanchflower and Bryson may fit Infurna’s research, because the precarious economic conditions push young workers into unsuitable jobs, pushing a sense of hopelessness that remains in middle age if they cannot improve their conditions. Bryson said that a broken career ladder is a hypothetical but compelling bit of research: “Climbing up the ladder, it seems, maybe, for some of them, someone has taken a few steps on that ladder,” he said, adding that he has seen nothing that directly supports this sentiment.
With their own financial problems, millennials may encounter the same situations as the elders of that generation who are beginning to enter middle age themselves.
“I wish I could be optimistic,” Infurna said. “With the high cost of living when it comes to housing, and then student loan debt, and our wages are not far off, it’s trending in the direction that things will continue to be this way for millennials.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
