Daily anxiety hits one in five US 18-to-25-year-olds, George Mason study finds

About one in five Americans aged 18 to 25 now reports feeling anxious every day, up from about one in seven in 2020, according to a study led by Melissa Villodas of George Mason University in the American Journal of Public Health. The university's findings were reported on Thursday, October 22, 2026. Looking at nearly 11,000 young adults surveyed between 2020 and 2024, the researchers found daily anxiety rose from 15% to 19.5%, and that more young people were being diagnosed and treated for it.

The years from 18 to 25 are full of change: leaving home, starting college or a first job, managing money and building new relationships. This study shows that for a growing share of young people in the United States, those years now come with anxiety that shows up every day, not just at exam time or before an interview. A rise of 4.5 percentage points in five years is large for a measure like this. In a group of 100 young adults, it means roughly four or five more people living with daily anxiety than in 2020.

The three measures in the study tell a fuller story when read together. Daily anxiety, diagnoses and medication use all went up. One reading is that more young people are struggling. Another, which the numbers also allow, is that more of them are recognising the problem, talking to doctors and getting help. The fact that the intensity of anxiety did not change suggests the rise is mostly about more people being affected, rather than the same people feeling much worse. The study abstract says the higher anxiety in the 2024 group compared with 2020 calls for public health attention to possible long-term effects of the pandemic on young adults' mental health.

The gaps between groups matter too. Young women and LGB young adults reported more anxiety than others. That points to pressures that are not shared equally, and to where support services may need to focus.

This is a US study, so its numbers cannot be applied directly to India. But students and first-jobbers in India face many of the same pressures, from competitive exams and job hunting to long screen hours and living away from family. For Indian readers, the study is a useful reminder that feeling anxious is common, that it can be recognised and treated, and that asking for help is a normal step rather than a failure.

Short-term: The findings give US colleges, employers and health services fresh evidence that demand for mental health support among young adults is rising. Campus counselling centres and youth services are the first places that demand shows up.

Long-term: If the trend continues, more young adults will enter their late twenties and thirties having lived with anxiety, which can affect study, work, relationships and physical health. The study adds to the case for early, easy-to-reach support, and for services shaped for the groups that report the most anxiety.

Who is affected: Young adults aged 18 to 25, especially young women and LGB young people; their families; colleges and universities; employers of first-jobbers; and health systems that provide mental health care. Indian students and young professionals can use the findings as a prompt to check in on their own wellbeing and that of friends.

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