Why Middle-Aged Americans Are in Crisis

May 7, 2026

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There’s plenty of research on children and young adults, and plenty of research on senior citizens, but what about middle-aged people? It can sometimes feel like they’re the forgotten middle child of generational studies. But now, a new paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science is taking a comprehensive look at middle-aged Americans, and it paints a pretty bleak picture.

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