Why Young people feel so overwhelmed — and how we can support their resilience and mental Health

What does it take for a young person (often named Generation Z or Gen Z)  to feel emotionally safe and hopeful today?

A psychologist’s guide to supporting Gen Z’s mental health and resilience.

🌼 Introduction

Many of us are seeing the emotional weight that young people are quietly carrying, whether in our families, classrooms, or therapy rooms. Their struggles may not always look obvious, but the internal load is real.

A 2023–2024 Hong Kong study showed that 1 in 3 Gen Z individuals show signs of anxiety, and their emotional regulation and optimism are sharply declining compared to the older generations.

Working with young adults across cultures, I see how resilience is often misunderstood. It’s not just about “being strong” or “pushing through".

True resilience is emotional, relational, and context-sensitive. And it grows best in supportive ecosystems, not in isolation.

From Yale to Delhi to Hong Kong, global evidence shows us that young people today need more than mental health awareness campaigns or self-help tools. They need environments that help them regulate, relate, and grow in a world that is constantly changing.

(Gen Z mental health and support young people with emotional resilience)

This article will explore:

1. What’s driving emotional distress in today’s youth

2. What resilience actually means in a psychological and cultural sense

3. How we, as adults and systems, can support young people in building real emotional strength

🧩️ What’s Driving Our Youth's Distress?

In a world of instant exposure and constant comparison, young people are living through more emotional complexity than most adults realise.

📊 Did you know?

Even with lower trauma exposure, Gen Z reported the highest levels of anxiety and depression in the Hong Kong survey, suggesting that the volume and velocity of stressors are significant contributors.

Young people today are growing up in a world shaped by unprecedented digital access and global interconnectedness.

Thanks to technology, young people are exposed to more ideas, crises, and curated versions of life than any previous generations.

At any moment, they can:

• Witness injustice, conflict, and climate fear in real time

• Compare their lives to the filtered highlight reels of others

• Encounter conflicting cultural norms, values, and expectations

  
  

“Youth are no longer socialised only through their immediate environment, they are immersed in a global media ecology that introduces them to diverse values, crises, and cultural expectations.” — Arjun Appadurai, anthropologist & globalisation theorist

This is a powerful strength. But it also introduces a level of cognitive and emotional complexity that many of us didn’t face growing up.

These rapid exposures can lead to:

• Cultural dissonance – the youth encounter conflicting values, norms, and worldviews with little guidance on how to integrate them

• Emotional overload – they witness suffering, injustice, and experience pressure, comparison and perfectionism without a pause button

• Identity strain – they try to define who they are amid an overwhelming number of influences which demand adaptability, relatability, and global fluency

🧠 Youth today are exposed to adult pressures too early, without the inner resources or social systems to support them. — Dr. David Elkind (The Hurried Child) 

While information is instant, meaning-making is not. This mismatch between exposure and integration, between what young people see and what they can emotionally process, creates fertile ground for overwhelm, anxiety, and disconnection.

Even when they are highly functioning externally, many young people feel misunderstood, especially by adults closest to them. This lack of attunement deepens distress and internal conflict.

There has been a study which suggested that even with lower trauma exposure, young people showed the highest levels of anxiety and depression, indicating that volume and velocity of stressors are major contributors.

🔗 If you want to know more about stress management skills we can pass on to the younger generation, or resilience strategies for mental health and wellbeing, read my other post:

Positive Habits a Psychologist Uses to Overcome Stress

🧠 What Is Real Resilience?

We often ask: "How can we make young people more resilient?"

But true resilience is not about being unaffected. It is the capacity to adapt emotionally with support.

Let’s reframe resilience not as toughness, but as adaptability with support.

Resilience is:

• Recognising and regulating emotions

• Making meaning of difficult experiences

• Recovering with meaning

• Feeling emotionally safe with others

• Knowing it's okay to ask for help

'Resilience isn’t built on pressure. It grows from attunement, trust, and safe connection.'

Resilience also grows through:

• Relational safety (parental attunement, educator responsiveness)

• Systems that support reflection, not just performance

• Safe cultural spaces to express emotional struggle

Studies have identified that emotional regulation is the most significant protective factor against mental health symptoms. It is a skill that can be taught and modelled.

The RULER approach developed at Yale teaches young people how to Recognise, Understand, Label, Express, and Regulate emotions. It’s proven to improve both wellbeing and learning outcomes when embedded in schools.

Did you know? Yale Center’s RULER approach teaches emotion literacy in schools, showing long-term improvements in both academic and emotional outcomes.

🤝 How Can Adults Support Youth Resilience?

We often ask, “How can young people be more resilient?” 

But the better question is, “What do young people need to feel safe enough to grow?”

It’s not about having perfect answers. It’s about being present, curious, and responsive.

What helps:

• Schools that integrate wellbeing and emotional learning as part of the curriculum (e.g. Delhi’s Happiness Curriculum)

• Parents who model emotional openness, co-regulation and validate complex feelings

• Community spaces that honour bicultural, queer, or neurodivergent identities

• Professionals who offer trauma-aware, culturally responsive care

It has now been recognised by many scholars, that young people now live in a world of shifting norms and changes, where young people lack stable anchors (e.g. sociologist Zygmunt Bauman's theory of liquid modernity).

To meet this reality, we must support resilience that is flexible, relational, and grounded.

Manuel Castells describes we now need to see our world as a 'Network Society'. A person's identity is no longer fixed but co-constructed through shifting online and offline influences. Without guidance, this can overwhelm us rather than empower.

'Resilience doesn’t thrive in isolation. It needs permission, practice, and presence.'

We now need to see our world as a 'Network Society'. Identity is no longer fixed but co-constructed through dynamic, often globalised exchanges.

🔗 I have another blog post which is relevant on elaborating on how therapy helps young people explore resilience and inner safety, and enhancing the own psychological insight into self-growth and emotional healing. Click here to read more.

💖 Closing Encouragement: An Intercultural Reflection (Gen Z mental health and support young people with emotional resilience)

Today’s youth are not “too sensitive.”

They are deeply aware, globally connected, and navigating a world of unparalleled complexity.

They are expected to integrate cultural diversity, be emotionally aware, communicate effectively across platforms and generations, particularly online. Often these expectations are imposed without structured emotional education to help them process what they encounter.

"Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy." — Geert Hofstede

That’s why intercultural emotional literacy is no longer a niche skill — it’s essential.

As adults, we don’t need to have all the answers and fix young people's pain. But we do need to offer presence, curiosity, and cultural humility.

Resilience isn’t about bouncing back alone. It’s about having enough safe relationships and systems for young people to grow.

Let us keep building a world where emotional resilience is supported, not assumed. Whether it is at home, in schools or in therapy, young people can be supported to grow emotional resilience with depth, courage, and connection.

🔔 Additional Tips and Support

🗣️ As parents, educators, and caregivers, it’s not always easy to find the right words to show young people we care.

That’s why I’ve written a version of this article specifically for young people. It speaks to their experiences directly and gently, helping them feel seen, not judged.

✉️ You can forward them the youth version here.

Let’s keep the conversation going — across generations, with more compassion and care.

📣 If you’re looking to support a young person (or yourself) through this emotional complexity:

🌱 I offer individual therapy, Reflective Depth Coaching, and seminars focused on young mental health, resilience and culturally responsive care.

🔗 Explore my services here.

📩 Feel free to get in touch for a discovery call.

🔐 Confidentiality & Care Note

This article is for reflection and education. All case examples have been anonymised. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional for support.

References & Further Reading

1. Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. University of Minnesota Press.

2. Elkind, D. (2001). The Hurried Child: Growing Up Too Fast Too Soon. Da Capo Press.

3. RULER Approach – Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. https://www.rulerapproach.org

4. Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.

5. Castells, M. (2010). The Rise of the Network Society. Wiley-Blackwell.

6. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Sage Publications.

7. The Hong Kong Gen Z Mental Health Study (2024), published by Hong Kong Shue Yan University.

8. Delhi Government. (2018). Happiness Curriculum Overview. Directorate of Education.

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