Young people are facing a future that feels increasingly uncertain. Although every generation experiences turbulence while navigating adolescence, the pressures experienced by Gen Z – those born between 1997 and 2012 – are different and seem more pervasive.

From climate change and mental health concerns to academic pressure, housing costs, job and economic insecurity, today’s young people are navigating a complex set of expectations. Understanding their frustrations, including those expressed through protests across Europe, requires looking beyond individual experiences to the social conditions shaping their lives.

Adolescence has long been seen as a period of “storm and stress”. This reflecting a belief that is a universal and inevitable period of emotional turmoil, behavioural conflict and identity crisis. However, this has been increasingly challenged.

Rather than being defined solely by difficulty and disruption, adolescence is increasingly viewed as a period of possibility, opportunity and growth. Yet realising that potential depends heavily on the social environments in which young people grow up.

A growing body of evidence highlights adolescence as a critical developmental period with profound implications for future health and wellbeing. There is also increasing recognition that adolescence extends well beyond the teenage years and well into the twenties.

Growing up under pressure

Young people nowadays grow up under intense and often overlapping pressure, and today this is to a higher extent........

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