Blog/Research

Following World Health Day last week, we thought it would be a good time to get a sense of young adults’ perspectives on their physical and mental health.

Gen Z’s mental health is often scrutinised from the angle of being the first generation that grew up in a world that was socially networked online. One suggested impact of this is a greater prevalence of anxiety among young people (see Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation). But another impact is the role social media plays in educating people about their physical health (e.g. nutrition and treating disease) as well as how to regulate emotions and mental health (what is termed psychoeducation in clinical psychology).

In my previous role as an Assistant Psychologist within the NHS, while social media experiences often contributed to younger clients’ difficulties, it was hard to unpick any causal impact in people’s presentations. In this study, we spoke to a nationally representative sample of 1,000 people between the ages of 18 and 34 to get an empirical sense of what influences the health of the younger generation of adults in the UK in 2026.

Trust in Health Information: People Over Platforms

‍Despite high levels of social media usage, young adults are far more likely to trust in-person advice on health over information from social media and AI platforms. When asked to describe the level of trust they felt in the accuracy of health information from different sources, GPs/family doctors were rated most trustworthy: 85% of respondents trusted the accuracy of GPs’/family doctors’ health information ‘a great deal’/‘a fair amount’. The corresponding figure was 80% for the NHS and 79% for family and friends. The equivalent rating for health influencers on social media was just 35% (the lowest rating for any of the options presented), and AI chatbots (e.g. ChatGPT, Gemini) received the next lowest trust score of 46%.

Whilst it is reasonable to perceive younger adults as more comfortable with social media and AI technologies than older counterparts, it’s noteworthy that trust in the accuracy of individuals and the NHS appears solid, while they are actually more likely to distrust social media and AI chatbots.

In fact, young adults also feel that social media ought to face greater levels of regulation. A majority (56%) believe the government should regulate social media use among under-16s ‘much more’ or ‘somewhat more’. Social media use among under-16s was considered more worthy of regulation than either vaping or online gambling. In the last year, 44% of the sample claimed to have seen information on social media they later perceived to be false. Of this 44%, the most commonly identified topics of misinformation were diets, weight loss, or nutrition (38%) and COVID-19/long COVID (31%).

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Perceived Threats to Physical and Mental Health

Part of our sample’s line on regulation might stem from a perception that social media corrodes mental health. 35% of young adults rated social media and online comparison culture as the biggest threat to the mental health of people their age. The next biggest threat — ‘financial insecurity/cost of living’ — was rated at 26%. We asked a corresponding question of physical health threats, in which ‘stress and overwork’ was ranked the single biggest threat to physical health (16%) above other contributing factors such as obesity, vaping, and poor diet.

Within a society where trust is allocated to people over AI chatbots and social media, it seems relevant that 42% of our respondents reported feeling lonely at least some of the time. But a wider social context gives us a fuller picture here than simply pointing the finger at online networks and tools. By some distance, the most significant factor young people attribute to having had a negative impact on their mental health is cost of living/financial pressure in the past year. Just under half of our sample (47%) identified this as a negative impact. The next highest ranking factors were work-related stress/burnout (32%) and relationship problems (30%). By comparison, 23% identify social media/time spent online as having a negative impact. Denouncing social media alone does not seem a sensible insight; it is part of a wider set of contributing factors.

A Generation That Talks — But Needs More Help

It would be misleading to narrate a story of one-way negative traffic regarding young people’s perceptions of their health landscape. 2-in-5 young people (42%) were optimistic about the health of their generation over the next 20 years (compared with 32% who described themselves as pessimistic). Perhaps facilitated by social media, this is a generation that is discussing its mental health in a way that was not happening previously. 70% believe that “talking openly about mental health is one of the best things” their generation has done. Over half of the sample (54%) claim never to have used recreational drugs. However, there is a counter-narrative that new ills have sprung up in place of the old. 67% believe that while younger generations may avoid some traditional vices, they face new health challenges that are just as serious. More depressingly, perhaps, 73% of the sample feel that while we talk a lot about mental health, we don’t actually provide enough real help to people who are struggling.

We decided to focus on younger adults’ attitudes and perceptions of health because these are the people who will define the future of our health services. We felt that whilst much is written about the subject, there is sometimes an absence of data to support claims.

This is a younger generation feeling the pressure of financial uncertainty and work-related stress acutely. Whilst conventional (more socially visible) vices such as recreational drug use and alcohol might have receded, these have been replaced by new harmful behaviours online. One positive lesson we can learn from the research though is that younger people are very much aware of the challenges they face when it comes to health, which can only be a good thing.