The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos Are Kids Today Really Worse Off?

We hear a lot about rising rates of anxiety, depression, and fragility among kids today. But when Harvard researcher Alexis Redding uncovered a forgotten trove of interviews with college students from the 1970s, she found something surprising: their emotional struggles and developmental challenges sounded nearly identical to those of students today.

Dr. Laurie also talks with psychologist Adam Mastroianni about why our minds are so quick to believe that young people are getting worse over time. Together, they explore what we get wrong about “kids these days,” and how historical perspective can help us respond to young people with a little more compassion.

Experts Mentioned: 

• Alexis Redding, developmental psychologist and Co-Chair of Higher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
• William Perry, professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
• Adam Mastroianni, writer and social psychologist
• Nancy Hill, Charles Bigelow Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

Resources Mentioned:

• Mental Health in College: What Research Tells Us About Supporting Students, by Alexis Redding (2026)
• Forms of Ethical and Intellectual Development in the College Years: A Scheme, by William Perry (1968)
• “The Illusion of Moral Decline” by Adam Mastroianni and Dan Gilbert (Nature, 2023)

Related Episodes: 

• “How to Make America’s Young People Happier Again”
• “What is Social Media Doing to Kids?”
• “How Smartphones Changed Childhood (And What to Do About It)”