Nearly One in Five Young US Adults Now Reports Anxiety Every Day
A national study has found that nearly one in five young adults in the United States reported feeling anxious every day in 2024. The proportion reporting daily anxiety rose from 15 percent in 2020 to 19.5 percent in 2024. The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, analyzed survey responses from nearly 11,000 adults aged 18 to 25. Researchers at George Mason University examined National Health Interview Survey data collected between 2020 and 2024.
Over the same period, the share reporting an anxiety diagnosis increased from 17.9 percent to 23.4 percent. Prescription anxiety medication use also rose, from 9.8 percent to 13.3 percent. Despite more people reporting daily anxiety, the average intensity of anxiety symptoms did not change significantly overall. That distinction suggests that frequency and severity should not be treated as the same measure.
The pattern varied across groups. In 2024, 32.1 percent of young women said they had received an anxiety diagnosis, compared with 14.7 percent of young men. About one in four women reported daily anxiety, and one in five took prescription anxiety medication. By sexual orientation, 44.6 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual young adults reported an anxiety diagnosis in 2024, compared with 18.5 percent of straight young adults. Prescription anxiety medication use among lesbian, gay and bisexual respondents rose from 12.9 percent in 2020 to 26 percent in 2024, while among straight respondents it increased from 9.3 percent to 10.4 percent.
Differences also emerged by race and ethnicity. In 2024, 31.3 percent of non-Hispanic white respondents reported an anxiety diagnosis, compared with 12.7 percent of non-Hispanic Black respondents and 15.3 percent of Hispanic respondents. But across the study period, Black and white young adults did not differ significantly in reported anxiety intensity. The researchers noted that access to care, stigma and differences in how symptoms are recognized might help explain the disparities. The researchers examined combinations of characteristics rather than looking at each one separately, an approach that helped reveal differences that might be missed when broad demographic categories are considered alone.
The study does not establish why anxiety increased. The period included the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, but the survey cannot isolate the effects of those events from other social changes. Its central message is that anxiety is widespread among young adults, while diagnoses and treatment do not necessarily track symptoms equally. Better understanding those differences may help improve how mental health needs are recognized.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：一名年轻女子在家用笔记本电脑工作时显得疲惫（资料图）。照片：Shixart1985，CC BY 2.0，经维基共享资源。 / A tired young woman working on a laptop at home (file photo). Photo: Shixart1985, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
