THE STATE OF GEN Z: How the youngest Americans are dealing with a world in crisis and a future that's been put on hold

The oldest group of Gen Z is turning 23 this year, meaning they were just 11 years old when the Great Recession hit in 2008. At the time of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the oldest Gen Zers were just 3 years old. Generational experts widely consider 9/11 the natural dividing point between millennials and Gen Z.

This means that the pandemic is the first major historical event that Gen Zers are old enough to contend with. They can see, understand, and process the impact the virus is having on the world around them.

"This generation is being exposed to hardship that is very hard to process at a younger age," psychiatrist Dr. Mimi Winsberg, the cofounder and chief medical officer of digital mental health company Brightside, told Business Insider. "It may have more impact than the person who's able to put it this context with other events as they've experienced."

Gen Z is arguably the most socially-tuned generation to ever exist, but the ease of keeping up with everything that is happening in the world via the internet has side effects. A 2018 APA study on American stressors found that news items are regularly sources of stress for young adults.

The news cycle of the past five years has frequently included gun violence, family separations at the US and Mexico border, the opioid crisis, climate change, and high-profile sexual assault cases (largely brought into the spotlight thanks to the #MeToo movement).

Mass shootings in particular have been Gen Z's chief stressor, the APA survey found. Around 75% of Gen Zers reported this as a significant source of stress with 72% saying they are stressed about even the possibility of a school shooting. Only 62% of adults pointed this as a source of stress.

(There hasn't been a school shooting since the pandemic began, because schools have closed their physical locations throughout the nation. Bloomberg News characterized the sharp drop in mass shootings in the US as the "one good thing from the pandemic.")

The 2018 APA study revealed that 91% of Gen Zers between ages 18 and 21 experienced at least one physical or emotional symptom because of stress in the past month, compared to 74% of adults overall. It also found that Gen Zers are more likely than other generations to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and to report that they have been diagnosed with depression.

Interestingly, female Gen Zers are nearly twice as likely than their male peers to report fair or poor mental health, per the APA study. And that's not just prevalent among Gen Z — Business Insider reporter Hillary Hoffower, citing another 2018 APA study, previously reported that female millennials are more likely to be anxious than their male peers.

It shows that Gen Zers are following closely in millennial footsteps, as they get ready to inherit the world that millennials are still struggling to conquer.

But at the same time, the study revealed that overall, younger generations are more likely to receive or have received therapy or treatment from a psychologist or other mental health professional. This indicates that, despite it all, Gen Zers and millennials are actively helping get rid of the stigma often associated with seeking out help.

Social-learning network StuDocu polled over 1,600 students between March 24 and April 17 (the height of the pandemic), and found that 62.4% of Gen Zers said isolating during COVID-19 has worsened their mental health.

The top emotions for those polled were stress, frustration, anxiety, and loneliness. Only 18.5% reported that they often feel happy during the pandemic.

Michael Pankowski, a sophomore at Harvard University, told Business Insider that over the past two months he has felt "overwhelmed" and "distraught" by how many lives have been lost to the coronavirus, even as his own world has been knocked off balance.

He said that in addition to the stress of the pandemic, his school closing also had an emotional impact on him, as it happened with such haste.

On March 10, Harvard students received notice that they had to vacate their dorms in just five days. Pankowski returned to his hometown of Rockville, Maryland. He recalls the dorm evacuation as a "whirlwind."

"With one email, we learned we had just five days to say goodbye to all of our friends," Pankowski said. "I feel particularly bad for the seniors, who had the end of their college careers so suddenly cut short, not knowing when or if they'd ever get to see their friends and classmates again all in one place.

Most millennials have parents who are either Gen X (turning 40 to 55 this year) or baby boomers (turning 56 to 74). This means that many of their parents are at high risk of catching the coronavirus.

Business Insider's Hayley Peterson talked to many millennials who were worried about the health of their parents and voiced frustration in trying to make them to stay inside. Hoffower separately reported that many millennials are stressed out about their parents' possible risk for infection.

At the same time, DoSomething Strategic found Gen Zers are experiencing different stress: Almost half are worried about their family's ability to afford basic needs and pay bills. Gen Zers were already worried about this before the pandemic.

The 2018 APA study found that 63% of Gen Zers ages 15 to 17 reported they were stressed because of their families not having enough money. Three in 10 Gen Zers reported debt and unstable housing as a source of their stresses, while three in 10 reported hunger.

Marnix Broer, CEO of the learning network StuDocu, found that students are now studying later at night than before. StuDocu also found that students are taking more breaks, and they listed their families and pets as distractions.

At the same time, many students were happy to have control over their environments by working at home, with nearly half listing food accessibility as being one of the top benefits.

Meanwhile, Mary Noel, a director at DoSomething Strategic, told Business Insider that there was a "deep sadness" coming from younger Gen Zers, especially those in high school, as milestone events such as prom and homecoming have been canceled.

"Most people, I don't think, have the structure in place to really deal with this student shift to work from home, let alone throwing this on young people, who now have to realize time management of when to get schoolwork done in the day, without having face-to-face support from teachers and other students," she said.

College students already felt that their universities did not do a good job of managing their mental health. In fact, StuDocu found that nearly 60% of students polled felt their university either sporadically helped them manage their mental health, or not at all, before the pandemic hit.

DoSomething Strategic also noted that students, both in high school and in college, are doubting the quality of an online education and miss in-person learning. As high schoolers are worried this could set their learning back and impact their college prospects, college students, in particular, are not happy that they are paying thousands of dollars for an online education.

Universities across the nation are dealing with students who are calling for partial and full refunds, arguing that online learning is not as effective as in-person learning.

At the same time, some students were worried that the new economic situation they've found themselves in — with their parents losing jobs, or their primary source of income disappearing, they may no longer be able to afford college in the fall.

Pankowski told Business Insider that he feels online learning is "unfair across the board" and that many students might not have the resources to succeed in distant learning.

"I'm lucky enough to have a personal computer and good WiFi in order to complete my work, but I know many of my classmates do not," Pankowski said.

The coronavirus has plunged the United States economy to historical lows and toward an impending recession. This means that Gen Zers who are graduating right now may face the same fate as the millennials who graduated during the Great Recession — long-term negative health and financial consequences.

Business Insider previously reported on an April 2019 Stanford study that found students who graduate into and start working in a recession often deal with higher unemployment rates and lower starting salaries.

Graduating at such a time also causes stagnation in economic prosperity that can linger for 10 to 15 years. This can lead to long-term negative impacts, according to both the Stanford study and a separate January 2020 paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Each indicated that graduating into a recession could, at worst, even lead to an earlier death.

Stanford referred to these deaths as "deaths of despair." These deaths are mostly related to heart disease, lung cancer, and liver disease, as well as drug and alcohol abuse.

Recession graduates' personal lives take a hit as well. Both studies found them less likely to be married, more likely to be divorced, and more likely to be childless.

In 2018, the American Psychological Association and the Harris Poll surveyed 3,458 respondents over the age of 18 living in the United States. The organizations also interviewed teenagers between the ages of 15 and 17.

The study found that 81% of Gen Zers between the ages of 18 and 21 reported money as causing significant stress in their lives, with 77% saying the same about work.

Now that many are out of work — and, as a result, running out of money — those stress levels are bound to rise. Pew Research found that one in four American workers between the ages of 16 and 24 lost their jobs between February and May, Business Insider previously reported.

The hospitality industry, which employs many young people, took a massive hit once restaurants closed due to social distancing measures. In the past six weeks, over 44 million Americans have filed for unemployment. DoSomething Strategic found that 40% of those between the ages of 18 and 25 have personally lost their jobs.

In the midst of all of this, 38% of those surveyed expressed worry over the financial impact this pandemic will have on their future. Some work jobs to help their parents pay the bills, while others work to fund their own educations. Over half of those surveyed by DoSomething Strategic were worried about how long this economic situation would last, and a third reported having fears about how it will impact their future job prospects.

"With all that is going on, I get scared because I know I'm mostly on my own to pay for college and need to make thousands appear out of thin air," a 17-year-old from Texas told DoSomething Strategic.

The creative platform VSCO surveyed 1,000 respondents between the ages of 14 and 24 from April 4 to April 22. The study found that 88% said that creatively expressing themselves has helped them feel less anxious during this time.

Additionally, 82% said the pandemic made them feel more appreciative of creative activities than before, while 52% said they have devoted more time to playing music. Meanwhile, 38% have devoted more time to journaling, 34% to dancing, 33% to photography and photo-editing, and 32% have taken up drawing.

This data echoes what DoSomething Strategic found: 58% of their Gen Z survey respondents said that, since the pandemic, they had picked up a new activity or were doing more of something they already enjoyed.

For example, Ansley Cestare, the 16-year-old from Flagler County, told Business Insider that she launched a "positivity" business, selling clothes with encouraging slogans on them.

VICE Media surveyed over 9,000 millennials and Gen Zers to find out how they were coping with the pandemic. They reported that 72% of Gen Zer respondents said that memes and other humorous content make them feel they are "capable of getting through this."

"Social media has assisted as the incredible force for connection in a time where people really need it," Mary Noel, a director at the social impact consultancy DoSomething Strategic, previously told Business Insider. "There are more people doing video conferencing and FaceTiming and connecting via social media. They're looking for more community out of social media as opposed to just consuming."

Noel said Gen Zers are "utilizing social media tools to go do things together, but apart." For example, high school seniors are having proms on Zoom, hosting virtual graduation parties, and putting together Instagram yearbooks.

"Specifically in a poll we did of millennial and Gen Z women, I think it was 32% of them said that social media was one of the ways that they were using to help cope right now," said Andrea Stanley, features director at Cosmopolitan magazine. "You can only make so many sourdough starters before the wall starts closing in."

Although the situation has left some "heartbroken," many are grateful for the "silver lining" in this situation, VSCO's survey found. Similarly, the DoSomething Strategic survey reported almost 40% of respondents said they hope some good will come out of this situation.

And social media isn't just for meme-making and meme-sharing: Gen Zers say they're using social media platforms to help spread awareness, capture, and document their new realities, according to VSCO's poll, with 88% saying they've participated in a form of health awareness promotion on social media because of the pandemic.

The pandemic is also making Gen Z more interested in politics. Around 31% of Gen Zers surveyed said they are now more likely to vote in November, with 83% sharing that COVID-19 has impacted their views on the role of government.

"This is a generation that doesn't like to sit still and do nothing," Grey, PRZM head of community, told Business Insider. "We are looking at our current situation and finding ways within or around it to do something with our lives, to still live ... the truth of the matter is this generation will have the greatest impact on what's to come and to be."

For example, many Gen Zers right now have taken to the streets to protest against police brutality and racism and said the widespread support of the Black Lives Matter movement has made them hopeful for their futures.

In a poll Yubo exclusively with Business Insider, nearly 90% of those who responded to the Yubo poll said that they support Black Lives Matter, an organization that fights against systemic racism and police brutality against Black Americans.

Seventy-seven percent of respondents have already attended a protest to support equality for Black Americans, and 62% said they were willing to get arrested during a peaceful protest to support this equality.

In a StuDocu poll done with Business Insider regarding Gen Zers and their thoughts on the Black Lives Matter protests, 64% said they were hopeful about the future because of the widespread support the Black Lives Matter movement has received.

Call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1-800-662-4357).

If you or someone you know has had thoughts of harming themselves or taking their own life, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255). It provides 24/7 free, confidential support for people in distress, as well as the best practices for professionals and resources to aid in prevention and crisis situations.