“I Just want to be Happy”: An Exploration of the Aspirations, Values, and Psychological Wellbeing of Australian Young People

TY - JOUR

T1 - “I Just want to be Happy”

T2 - An Exploration of the Aspirations, Values, and Psychological Wellbeing of Australian Young People

AU - Humphrey, Ashley

AU - Forbes-Mewett, Helen

AU - Bliuc, Ana Maria

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood and SAGE Publishing.

PY - 2022/11/18

Y1 - 2022/11/18

N2 - Western cultural environments present an increasingly challenging landscape for young people’s mental health. To better understand how this cultural environment may be influencing the lives of young people, we conducted 50 semi-structured interviews with young Australians, discussing participants’ values, life goals, social attitudes and behaviours, and life stressors. We find that while participants tended to see factors such as maintaining strong relationships and personal growth as important to them, their ambitions, attitudes, and social behaviours were often driven by self-centred and materialistic aims. Participants also perceived outcomes specific to these drivers, including poor social support, feelings of competitiveness, and uncertainties around their future, as significant contributors to the stress they experienced in their lives. These findings help us better understand how prevailing Western cultural norms, including individualistic and materialistic practices, may influence young people’s psychological wellbeing.

AB - Western cultural environments present an increasingly challenging landscape for young people’s mental health. To better understand how this cultural environment may be influencing the lives of young people, we conducted 50 semi-structured interviews with young Australians, discussing participants’ values, life goals, social attitudes and behaviours, and life stressors. We find that while participants tended to see factors such as maintaining strong relationships and personal growth as important to them, their ambitions, attitudes, and social behaviours were often driven by self-centred and materialistic aims. Participants also perceived outcomes specific to these drivers, including poor social support, feelings of competitiveness, and uncertainties around their future, as significant contributors to the stress they experienced in their lives. These findings help us better understand how prevailing Western cultural norms, including individualistic and materialistic practices, may influence young people’s psychological wellbeing.

KW - Culture

KW - Individualism

KW - Materialism

KW - Psychological wellbeing

KW - Stress

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85142740700

U2 - 10.1177/21676968221138638

DO - 10.1177/21676968221138638

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85142740700

SN - 2167-6968

JO - Emerging Adulthood

JF - Emerging Adulthood

ER -