Recent research has revealed that many young people are suffering from depression. Never before in history were cases of suicide as rampant among young people as in this generation. As the population increases, competition is also increasing, and more difficulties are emerging worldwide. And youths are generally major victims of these challenges as the rate of unemployment increases. Youths are losing their self-esteem, and considering that this is a time when a lack of education means a lack of good jobs, youths with poor academic results feel hopeless.

The University of Minnesota has reported the results of a wide study and survey conducted across Minnesota. The study showed that the current world leaves young people highly stressed and anxious.

The study and survey revealed some of the stressful happenings that young people go through and how they relate to stress. It also highlighted the risk factors for youths most susceptible to self-destructive behaviour, depression and stress. The research offers data on young females, suicide and depression taken from almost 4300 high school students in 52 rural counties in Minnesota.

As proven by a study of high school students in Minnesota, depression, stress, and anxiety are serious problems for many young adults. 39% of these young people experienced depression ranging from mild to severe. Unfortunately, in an attempt to battle these problems, these young people often resort to negative behaviour.

Some characteristics of stress are feelings of worry, frustration, sadness, tension, and withdrawal that, most of the time, extend from some hours to a few days. But depression is much more severe and extends longer. Some characteristics of depression are feelings of isolation, hopelessness, sadness, withdrawal, worry, and worthlessness that extend for about two or more weeks. The research showed about 9% of students in high school suffer from severe depression. And this is highly worrisome and more necessary because the riskier factor for suicide is depression. The Minnesota study discovered that of all young people who attempted suicide, 88% suffered from depression.

There are so many factors that cause stress and anxiety among young people. The Minnesota study offered students a list of frequent life events, 47 in number, and asked them to indicate the ones they had passed through in the last six months that they regarded as “bad”. Their responses revealed that in the last six months, they had gone through an average of two negative events. The most frequent among them were trouble with parents or siblings, failures in exams, serious injury or illnesses to a member of the family, breakups in intimate relationships, financial difficulties, trouble with classmates or friends, chronic unemployment, and pressure of prospects from others and self.

In conclusion, most of these young people suffering from stress and depression have lost hope for their future. This is why many of them commit suicide. This research in Minnesota reveals how rife depression is among young people as a result of personal or family experiences and situations in the nations of the world today, which have made them lose hope in the future.