Study finds that adolescents in high-income countries experience lower mental well-being than their counterparts in middle-income countries.

Living in a rich country reduces subjective well-being of adolescents, as learning intensity and school-related stress increase with economic development. This is according to a study by Robert Rudolf and Dirk Bethmann of Korea University, Seoul, that looks at data from nearly half a million 15-year-olds across 72 middle- and high-income countries. The paper, published recently in Springer’s Journal of Happiness Studies, focuses on the overall life satisfaction of adolescents, but also investigates related concepts such as positive emotions, negative emotions, and perceived meaning in life. The study finds that higher income is related not only to adolescents’ lower life satisfaction, but also to more frequent negative emotions and reduced perceptions of meaning in life.

The study identifies a negative relationship between GDP per-capita and adolescent life satisfaction (Figure 1), which stands in stark contrast to the otherwise positive relationship between per-capita income and adult life satisfaction for the same set of countries.



The study has been covered by international and Korean news recently.

International news

•    The Atlantic (USA, https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2023/03/teen-anxiety-elite-schools-sat-act-paradox-wealthy-nations/673307/)

•    Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ, Germany, https://www.faz.net/aktuell/karriere-hochschule/klassenzimmer/jugendliche-werden-mit-steigendem-wohlstand-ungluecklicher-18709365.html)

•    Spiegel (Germany, https://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/je-reicher-das-land-desto-ungluecklicher-seine-jugendlichen-a-50842935-631d-43f1-8c4b-59fdc001427f)

•    Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ, Switzerland, https://www.nzz.ch/panorama/reiches-land-unglueckliche-jugend-die-schattenseiten-des-geldes-ld.1729435?reduced=true)

•    Marginal Revolution (USA, https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/02/why-are-adolescents-so-unhappy.html)


Korean news

•    베리타스 알파 (http://www.veritas-a.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=449750) 

•    한국강사신문 (https://www.lecturernews.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=121181)

•    아이뉴스24 (https://www.inews24.com/view/1574916)

•    교수신문 (http://www.kyosu.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=101884)