American adults under 30 generally have less hope than older generations. This decline appears to be driven by poor mental health. Getty Images
Americans have a long reputation for being hopeful. The United States is often characterized by a “can do” attitude and the pursuit of the American Dream. The American Dream is the idea that motivated individuals have the freedom to pursue their dreams and improve their lives and the lives of their families. In fact, the United States has always been the most popular destination for people from all over the world who want to leave their home country.
But recent surveys suggest that many Americans are losing faith in the country's future. A 2023 survey by Pew Research Center found that at least two-thirds of Americans believe that by 2050, the United States will be economically weaker, less important in the world, and more politically divided. It turned out that I believed it. A 2023 Wall Street Journal/NORC survey found that nearly 80% of Americans do not expect their children's generation to be better off than their own.
Have we lost hope?
To find out, our team at the Archbridge Institute's Institute for Human Flourishing, in collaboration with NORC at the University of Chicago, surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,000-plus Americans about their hopes for the future. I investigated. We were particularly interested in distinguishing between personal aspirations and aspirations at a broader national or global level. Our results reveal that this distinction is important.
The good news is that most Americans remain hopeful in their personal lives. 82% have hope for their future, 85% have hope for their family's future, and 74% have hope for the future of their community. Although there are some differences across demographic groups, for the most part, these high levels of hope characterize Americans across diverse gender, age, racial, ethnic, income, and political groups.
Unfortunately, once you extend it beyond your local environment, your hopes diminish significantly. Only 56% of Americans are hopeful about the country's future, a particularly worrying trend in an election year. Furthermore, only 44% of Americans believe that humanity will make significant progress against major societal and global challenges in the coming decades.
We also asked respondents about their current mental health, and that's where we observed the most significant differences between Americans. As an example, 90% of American girlfriends who say their mental health is good are hopeful about their future, compared to 49% who say their mental health is poor. is occupied.
The real reason for despair
We tend to think of mental health as a personal issue, but it has wider societal implications. Mental illness reduces social trust and reduces behaviors that promote social prosperity, such as labor force participation and entrepreneurship. Mental health can also impact people's vision for the future of their country and human progress. For example, our survey found that the percentage of Americans who have hope for the future of the country increased from 62% of those who said their mental health was good to 62% of those who said their mental health was poor. This has decreased to 32%.
The relationship between mental health and hope also explains the observed differences across age groups. Our research shows that adults under 30 are generally less hopeful than older Americans. However, this decline appears to be driven by worsening mental health among young people. Just looking at the responses of Americans who say their mental health is good, young people are just as hopeful as older generations. In fact, mentally healthy young people are the most hopeful group about the country's future, with 71% feeling hopeful about the future of the United States, compared to about 60% of other age groups .
Mental health and related psychological issues such as loneliness may prove to be one of the most significant barriers to modern human flourishing and progress. Despite living in an age of material abundance, if people do not develop a hopeful mindset, they will not be able to fully utilize their abilities to improve their lives and meet the great challenges we face today. Can't deal with it. Research shows that when individuals have hope for the future, they are more confident, motivated toward their goals, more resilient, more involved in their communities, and more creative and innovative. As a result, hopeful people tend to be more successful in achieving their aspirations and are more likely to perceive their lives as meaningful.
We live in a media-saturated world, constantly bombarded with negative news and social commentary focused on grievances, and the barriers to human progress can feel insurmountable. But when we look back at a time of war, famine, disease, poverty, discrimination, and social upheaval, we find that a hopeful mindset, a belief that people have the power to build a better future, It can be seen that it played an important role in Inspiring people to overcome obstacles and create a better world than the one we live in today.
Of course, not all old problems have been solved, and new ones continue to arise. But that's why hope is and always will be important.
Clay Routledge is vice president of research; Institute for Human Prosperity At Archbridge Research Institute. Andrew Abeyta is a fellow in the Human Flourishing Lab and assistant professor of psychology at Rutgers University.
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