Deteriorating Mental Well‐Being of the Young in the UK
Scottish Journal of Political Economy
Published online on May 27, 2026
Abstract
["Scottish Journal of Political Economy, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nUsing several data sets for the UK we track rising perceptions of mental well‐being among the working‐age population in the UK. The trend is apparent among all age groups and for men and women, but it is most pronounced among the young, and especially young women aged under 25. Young men's mental well‐being began to fall markedly from 2008 whereas young women's mental ill‐health began to deteriorate a few years later. The age profile of mental well‐being shifts to the right over time such that the nadir of mental well‐being shifts from mid‐life, when people are in their late 40s and early 50s, around the time of the Great Recession, to ones early‐ to mid‐20s in 2023.\n"]