The Challenging Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood |
Co-authored by Nicole Kozloff, M.D., S.M., and Mary Brunette, M.D.
Joel is 20 and living with his parents. He struggles in college, taking only one class while working part-time. He has been arguing with his parents and friends and recently broke up with his high school girlfriend, who attends university out of town.
Joel is preoccupied with the state of the world and obsessively reads about climate disasters and wars. He struggles to sleep and spends hours scrolling through Instagram. He can relax only when using cannabis. His mother called a local mental health clinic and was told there was a three-month wait for counseling.
The alarm has increasingly been sounded about a crisis in youth mental health, including a 2021 Surgeon General Advisory, and a position statement documenting a National State of Emergency in Children’s Mental Health, citing increased prevalence of mental disorders, suicide, and related emergency department visits. These trends were present before the COVID-19 pandemic and have persisted.
The youth mental health crisis has been a focus of news articles, addressing topics including barriers to help-seeking and ways adults can support adolescents, gaps in the mental health system for youth, and the importance of funding youth mental health research. Here are highlighted the distinct challenges of young adults ages 18 to 25.
Young adulthood is a critical developmental stage when people typically establish career trajectories, intimate relationships, and personal values—all while they are expected to separate from their families and move toward financial and functional independence. As they face increased responsibilities, they also bear........