Mental+Health+and+the+Millennial+Generation

**Name:** Ryan Leverton **Number:** n6327893 **Tutor:** Colleen Niland

Generation Y is considered the demographic cohort following Generation X. They are generally considered to be born between mid 1970s and the mid 1990s. They are children of the baby boomers however there are some stark contrasts in the attitudes between these generations and on top of that mental health concerns are an issue that’s on the increase for Generation Y. Adolescence and early adulthood are crucial periods of physical, social, educational and vocational development and the failure to recognise and treat mental illness can have lasting adverse effects in all these areas. Early intervention is required to minimise the impact of mental illness on a young person’s learning, growth and development, thus improving the health outcome of those affected by mental illness. According to a survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics where participants were aged 16-24 years in the year 2007, approximately one quarter of the participants, 671 000 specifically, suffered from an mental illness. The main disorders that were focused on were anxiety and substance abuse (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2007). Results indicated that compared with other age groups these three disorders had tested high in this age group and thus it’s imperative that we understand the cause behind these issues in order to treat them in the future.

**Artefact **

This artefact comes from the web comic PierceLogic. It’s a web series based on the true events of a group of housemates sharing a house together. Pierce the main protagonist is a video game enthusiast and will often immerse himself in games to the point where he doesn’t realize whets going on around him in reality as is evident in this particular comic strip. Although this comic is designed to be humorous in nature the subtle and worrying undertone is that it’s based on reality and is quickly becoming a very real fear for Generation Y.

**Public Health Issue **

Mental health is a significant concern as 1 in 4 young Australians are dealing with issues such as depression, anxiety, suicide and self harm. Apart from significant issues such as suicide and self harm it's particularly worrying that these young Australians have to deal with the stress associated with these issues. In the long term, stress may affect memories by destroying neurons in the hippocampus (part of our memory bank)(Koenig, Walker, Romeo & Lupien, 2011). If these young adults start stressing at a young age, what does this mean for their future mental health and physical health? Stress stimulates our appetite for ‘comfort' foods which are usually foods that are high-fat, high-starch and high in useless calories which will only help to further exacerbate the obesity problem.

Furthermore stress also makes us sick because the parasympathetic nervous system is constantly running in the background. When we are stressed, adrenaline, cortisol and all the other chemicals that we need to ‘save ourselves’ are flowing around our bodies negatively impacting all the usual healthy non-stressed body activities like our immune and digestive systems with potentially awful consequences and as a result we are more susceptible to viruses etc. (Koenig, Walker, Romeo & Lupien, 2011) Thus it’s imperative that we understand the mental health profile of Generation Y and how their attitudes, goals and consumption patterns influence their mental health.

**Literature Review **

When looking at the mental health of Generation Y (Gen Y) it’s important to understand the driving factors behind Gen Y’s attitudes and goals. Gen Y is considered the driving force for tomorrow’s economy. McQueen (2008) describes Gen Y as having very optimistic, upbeat expectations about what they deserve, what they are going to get paid, how high they will rise and the levels of authority and influence they will have. This attitude is considered the result of the financial prosperity they have seen growing up in their formative years. As a group they have never witnessed recession or mass unemployment  and as a result are not very conservative when it comes to spending money. Gen Y is not known to be very astute when it comes to money. As a generation they are defined by the words ‘credit’ and ‘debt’. One third of all credit cards applied for in Australia in 2009 ended up being used by eighteen to twenty-seven year olds (Maitland, 2009). Their parents, the baby boomers have had the busiest time of their careers, they have worked hard and have grown up and risen through the ranks of a company. As a result many baby boomers have been willing to provide for their children and in some respects have cushioned Gen Y from reality. Many Gen Y individuals tend to focus on the short term and their poor budgeting and planning skills mean they have difficulty achieving their goals (Weber, 2008). Gen Y seems comfortable with debt, holding the attitude that they will get around to paying it off later. This is in stark contrast to previous generations who are very cautious about debt and believed in saving. As a result when the long term consequences finally catch up with Gen Y they are hit with this harsh reality which can help foster mental illnesses such as depression.

Gen Y are also considered extremely tech savvy. While their parents, the baby boomers were influenced by the aftermath of World War II, television, rock and roll, the Vietnam War and the hippie movement, Generation Y has grown up with the internet, globalization, mobile phones and Facebook. Blackberrys, cell phones, iPods are normal to this generation but with this ever growing social network comes the potential for abuse. As a generation, Gen Y are flooded with advertisements throughout their lives and, as a result, issues such as a body image are being reported as major issues for Gen Y. The media is slowly being recognized as a major influence in a person’s perception of body image. Young people are generally considered more susceptible and will often compare themselves to models or sporting idols, in terms of their physical attractiveness (Monteath & McCabe, 1997). Many researchers regard the emphasis in the media and in the fashion industry on thinness and on an ideal female body shape and size as being psychologically detrimental to the well-being of many young women and on their self-image which also gives rise to excessive dieting and/or exercise, and to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. Sociocultural studies highlight the role of cultural factors in the incidence of anorexia nervosa in women, such as the promotion of thinness as the ideal female form in Western industrialized nations, particularly through the media (Ferraro, Muehlenkamp, Paintner, Wasson & Hager, 2008). It’s also widely recognized that this influence the media has doesn’t necessarily need to affect the generation as a group. If only one individual is affected by this the peer pressure effects are similarly as likely to cause body dissatisfaction (Garner & Garfinkel, 1980).

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Finally a much less publicized issue affecting the mental health of Gen Y is the issue of lack of engagement in the everyday world. Never before has a generation been so influenced by the evolving role of information and communication technology in shaping the society in which we live. Having grown up with this new technology, increasing numbers of Gen Y’ers are finding that they are reliant on this technology just to function in everyday life. This detachment from everyday life can lead to feelings of depression, anxiety, loss of control and isolation (Lee, 2009). For instance, people using the internet whether that be for online chatting, playing games or surfing the web generally, aren’t tuned in to what is physically happening around them in reality. People become obsessed with building upon their cyber persona without any knowledge of the ramifications it’s having on reality and thus leading to problems such as internet addiction where they feel that have lost control and are isolated from their peers despite being part of a cyber social network. This detachment from reality can also explain the problems associated with cyber bullying. The anonymity of the internet and the illusion of no consequences allows us to be more distant from each other and thus more violent. This detachment from reality means that without physically seeing the pain and suffering caused by bullying, people who are usually nice and polite may turn to cyber bullying without any real understanding of the ramifications (Jackson, von Eye, Fitzgerald, Zhao & Witt, 2010).

**<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Cultural and Social Analysis **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">When people look at Gen Y and see these problems and increasing rates of mental health issues, it’s easy to see the correlation between the mental health issues and Gen Y’s reliance on a large technological information and communication network. Thus broad blanket statements such as ‘the internet is the sole reason why Gen Y is seeing increasing rates in mental health issues’ are a fairly common occurrence. This however is a general misconception in the community, the idea behind a large information and communication network isn’t a bad idea, it helps make our everyday lives more efficient and productive. The problem arises when people start substituting actual face to face relationships with relationships solely through the use of this information and communication network (Lee, 2009) and unfortunately it seem to be a trap which a lot of Gen Y’ers fall into.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Why is Gen Y so susceptible? Well when you look at the attitudes and goals of Gen Y they are very much about the ‘here and now’ frame of mind. They pursue short term goals without thinking about the ramifications in the long term which is why issues such as debt are so prevalent for Gen Y. This attitude is reflected in not only their spending habits but also in how they communicate, its far easier to contact somebody through Facebook then it is to arrange a time to meet them in person and as a result Gen Y finds themselves using this information and communication network almost exclusively and thus are more exposed to the media’s perception of body image (Lee, 2009).

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The theorist Baudrillard’s writing considered the power of symbolism and representation and he was extremely interested in new forms of communication. He developed ideas about how the nature of social relations is determined by the forms of communication that a society employs and suggested that today there is no such thing as reality rather that our experiences are so meditated that we no longer know what is real and what is artificial (Kellner, 1994). This is a very real fear for future of Gen Y. Should this progress it could reach the point in which many of the fears of Aldous Huxley’s author of Brave New World become reality. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance and that in essence our desire would ruin us (Postman, 1985).

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The sad irony is that even if the youth of Gen Y identify themselves as having a possible mental illness there are still many barriers for youth’s seeking help, such as embarrassment, the desire to be self-sufficient, limited “mental health literacy” and the stigmatisation of the mentally ill (Gulliver, Griffiths & Christensen, 2010). Thus Gen Y will generally turn to technologies such as the internet for help. Unfortunately mental health as a issue still hasn’t really been recognized by the community however they are gradually becoming more aware of this situation and the lack of government funding towards the issue and it has been emphasised that mental health funding needs to be doubled so that resources allocated to mental health care can meet the actual demands of the Australian society (McGorry 2011).

**<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Artefact Analysis **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">PierceLogic’s web comic’s is unique in that unintentionally makes light of many of the issues associated with Gen Y’s attitudes. From this particular comic it can be seen that Gen Y’s ‘here and now’ attitude has resulted in Pierce not listening to Netty and as a result is unintentionally putting himself in harm’s way. What’s even more interesting is it that this quite effectively shows how reliance on this technology can result in detachment from reality and realises some of the fears of Baudrillard who says that our experiences will become so mediated that we no longer know what is real and what is artificial (Kellner, 1994).

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The problem with PierceLogic’s comics is that the issues associated with Gen Y are often masked by stories of Pierce enjoying playing different video games and thus to really identify the underlying issues you have to be actively looking for them and on top of that many of the potential ramifications of these issues aren’t shown or are made light of, such as in this comic. This in turn may result in readers downplaying the significance of these issues which ultimately may further devalue the significance of Gen Y mental health issues in the community.

**<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Reference List **

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2007). Mental Health of Young People, 2007. Retrieved October 14, 2011 from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/4840.0.55.001Main%20Features12007?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=4840.0.55.001&issue=2007&num=&view

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Ferraro, F., Muehlenkamp, R., Paintner, A., Wasson, K., & Hager, T. (2008). Aging, Body Image, and Body Shape. //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Journal of General Psychology. // <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">135(4), 379–392. doi:10.3200/GENP.135.4.379-392

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Garner, D., & Garfinkel, P. (1980). Socio-cultural factors in the development of anorexia nervosa. //Journal of General Psycology//, 10(4), 647-56. doi:10.1177/0957154X990100380

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Gulliver, G., Griffiths, M., & Christensen, H. (2010). Perceived barriers and facilitators to mental health help-seeking in young people: A systematic review. //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">BMC Psychiatry, 10 //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">(130). doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-10-113

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Jackson, A., von Eye, A., Fitzgerald, E., Zhao, Y., & Witt, A. (2010). Self-concept, self-esteem, gender, race and information technology use. //Computers in Human Behavior//, 26(3), 323-328. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2009.11.001

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Kellner, D. (1994). //Baudrillard: a critical reader//. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Koenig, J., Walker, C., Romeo, R., & Lupien, S. (2011).Effects of stress across the lifespan. <span class="citationsource" style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">//Stress,// <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">14 (5), p. 475. doi:10.3109/10253890.2011.604879

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Lee, S. (2009). Online communication and adolescent social ties: Who benefits more from internet use?. //Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication//, 14(3), 509-531. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01451.x

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Maitland, A. (2009). A to Z of generation Y attitudes. //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Financial Times, // <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">pp. 12. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/250216849?accountid=13380

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">McGorry, P. (2011). Building a national mental health system - a 21st century engineering challenge. Retrieved November 1, 2011 from http://www.patmcgorry.com.au/blog/pmcgorry/building-national-mental-health-system-21st-century-engineering-challenge

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">McQueen, M. (2008). // The 'new' rules of engagement : a guide to understanding and connecting with generation Y //. Wareemba, New South Wales: Nexgen Impact

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Monteath, S., & McCabe, M. (1997). The influence of societal factors on female body image. //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Journal of Social Psychology, // <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">137(6), 708–27. doi:10.1080/00224549709595493

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Pierce, R. (2007). PierceLogic: What’s that smell? Retrieved October 14, 2011 from http://piercelogic.deviantart.com/#/d1y8ofs

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Postman, N. (1985). //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">. USA: Penguin USA.

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Weber, R. (2008). Managing generation Y. //<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Trailer/Body Builders, // <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">49(8). Retrieved November 1, 2011 from http://search.proquest.com/docview/199545407?accountid=13380


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