Young people struggle to cope with setbacks as happiness falls to lowest level in a decade

Today’s youngsters are the unhappiest in almost a decade because they do not know how to cope with setbacks, research by the Prince’s Trust has found. 

The charity, founded by the Prince of Wales, said worries about the future, money, and “not being good enough” were “piling up” on young people aged 16-25. 

Its research found that happiness and confidence in emotional health had dropped to their lowest levels since 2009.

Its index rates young people’s emotional health by ranking happiness levels in areas such as work and relationships from 0 to 100. 

In this year’s survey the overall average figure was 57, a four-point fall from the previous year and down from 70 when the study was first carried out. 

Almost half of the young people said they did not feel they could cope well with setbacks in life.