Baby boomers have better mental health

CHILDREN growing up in the Flower Power era of the Sixties have significantly better mental health than those born in the depressed Seventies, scientists claim.

A study of 19,000 Britons compared the mental health of those born during one week in 1958 and one week in 1970.

It found that at 42, the younger group were more likely to feel depressed, anxious or irritable than those born 12 years earlier.

This major difference between people born little over a decade apart could represent a time bomb for mental health services, which face being swamped by a surge in those with psychological problems.

The findings seem to reinforce the idea that the ‘baby boomers’ who spent their childhoods in the Sixties and teenage years in the Seventies were fortunate.

A study last month said those born in the Fifties were a ‘lucky generation’, with an income more than 20 per cent higher than those born in the previous decade.

The lastest study found some factors linked to worsening mental health, including an increase in the number of mothers smoking during pregnancy in 1970 and a decrease in the number of mothers breastfeeding compared to 1957.

The younger group born in 1970 were more likely to have ‘conduct’ problems as 16-year- olds, such as getting in trouble with teachers and the police, and to be single at 33 rather than married or cohabiting.

But the rest of the findings are unexplained – although ongoing research will take into account factors such as employment history.

Overall, men’s mental health was hardest hit, with 6 per cent more suffering worse mental health.

Of the 1958 group, 10 per cent reported suffering from distress, compared to 16 per cent of the 1970 cohort. Among women, who typically suffer worse mental health than men, the rate increased from 16 per cent to 20 per cent.

The research, published in Psychological Medicine, was based on two studies, the National Child Development Study and the 1970s British Cohort study.

Particpants had to complete a questionnaire called the ‘malaise inventory’ asking whether they often felt ‘miserable and depressed’, ‘worried about things’ and became ‘easily upset or irritated’.

The study examined whether circumstances in early life and adolescence explained the differences.

Lead author Dr George Ploubidis, professor of population health and statistics at University College London, said that although the two generations had different upbringings, these had only a modest effect in explaining the increase in poor mental health at age 42.

The research also found that bedwetting after the age of five rose from 10 per cent of girls and 12 per cent of boys in the 1958 cohort to 18 per cent of girls and 25 per cent of boys in the Seventies’ cohort.

Conversely, academic achievement was higher among the younger group, with 34 per cent of men and 36.7 per cent of women born in 1970 likely to have a university degree by 33, compared with 14.1 per cent of men and 11.1 per cent of women in the 1958 group.

Dr Ploubidis said: ‘The higher average level of psychological distress in the 1970 cohort implies that they are likely to spend more years with poor mental health. If the elevated level of psychological distress in the 1970 generation represents a general trend, we predict future generations will be worse off still.’

‘Miserable and depressed’