Young adults (18–25)

Suddenly you may be the one booking appointments, doing laundry, paying bills and making big choices. Freedom feels good, but carrying all of it yourself can be tiring. Many young adults feel proud and anxious at the same time.

Ways to make it lighter

• Learn one new life skill at a time, like cooking three simple meals
• Use reminders and a shared calendar for bills and appointments
• Ask people you trust how they handle things. Most adults are still learning too.
• Accept help without feeling like you’ve failed

Young adulthood is often a time of asking big questions: What do I believe? What do I care about? Who am I attracted to? What do I want to do with my life? Your answers may change, and that is part of growing, not a sign that you are lost.

Gentle ways to explore

• Try new classes, clubs, jobs or volunteering
• Spend time with people who are different from you
• Write down what gives you energy, and what drains you
• Notice your values: what you admire in others often points to what matters to you

Money is often one of the biggest new stresses. Rent, student loans, credit cards and low starting pay can make it feel impossible to get ahead. Money worries and mental health often feed each other: stress makes it harder to plan, and not planning creates more stress.

Small steps that help

• Write down what comes in and what goes out each month
• Set up one small automatic saving, even a few dollars
• Look at the bills you dread. They usually feel smaller once you see them.
• Ask your college, bank or a nonprofit credit counselor for free help
• Be cautious with “buy now, pay later” and high-interest credit

School gave life a clear structure: grades, years, next steps. After that, the path is much less clear. Not knowing where you’ll live, what job you’ll have, or who you’ll be with can stir up a lot of worry. The mind tries to solve the future all at once.

What helps

• Focus on the next small step, not the whole map
• Separate what you can control from what you can’t
• Remind yourself that most people change paths more than once
• Talk it through with someone who listens without judging

Many young adults feel they “should” have a career, a partner, a home or a clear plan by a certain age. Comparing your life to friends, family or strangers online can make you feel like you are failing, even when you are doing fine. Some people call this a “quarter-life crisis”. It is a common experience, not a diagnosis.

Ways to ease the pressure

• Ask: whose timeline is this? Mine, or someone else’s?
• Write down three things you’ve learned or got through in the past year
• Limit time with feeds that leave you feeling behind
• Talk to an older person you trust about how their 20s really went

The first year can bring homesickness, loneliness, harder classes and less structure. Sleep often slips, and social life can feel like it revolves around drinking. It can take a whole semester or more to feel settled, and that is normal.

First-year tips

• Find your campus counseling center early, before you need it
• Join one or two clubs, teams or groups
• Keep a simple routine for sleep, meals and study
• Go to office hours. Professors and tutors are there to help.
• Check in with family or old friends, without needing them for everything

Not everyone goes to college, and many people who start leave or pause. There is no single right path. People who skip or delay college can sometimes feel left out of conversations and support that seem built for students.

Where to find support without a campus

• Your primary care provider
• An employee assistance program (EAP) at work, if offered
• Community mental health centers
• Local libraries, community centers and faith communities
• Apprenticeship, trade and job programs that offer mentoring

First jobs can bring pride and a paycheck, but also long hours, unclear expectations and feeling like you don’t know the “rules”. Shift work, gig work or more than one job can make it hard to rest and see friends.

What helps

• Ask questions early. Nobody expects you to know everything.
• Find a coworker or mentor you can learn from
• Protect some time each week that is just for rest and people you love
• Learn your rights about breaks, pay and safety
• If a job is harming your health, it is OK to plan a way out

Many young adults feel huge pressure to get top grades, land the right internship and “make it” quickly, sometimes to repay family sacrifices. A little pressure can motivate. Too much can turn into constant worry, all-nighters and feeling like you are never enough.

Ways to ease it

• Set a few realistic goals instead of perfect ones
• Break big projects into small tasks with mini-deadlines
• Talk to an academic advisor if you are falling behind. There are often more options than you think.
• Remember that one bad grade or rejection does not decide your future

Many colleges offer free or low-cost counseling, crisis support, disability services and peer groups. In the 2024–2025 Healthy Minds Study, about 37% of students had received therapy or counseling in the past year. Common reasons students gave for not getting help included lack of time, money, and preferring to handle things alone or with family.

Worth knowing about

• The counseling center: often free short-term therapy, groups and referrals
• Disability or accessibility services: support for mental health conditions, like extra time on exams
• Student health services
• Peer-led mental health groups, such as Active Minds chapters
• Resident advisors and deans of students, who can help in a crisis

Homesickness is grief for what is familiar: your room, your people, your routines, even the food. It often hits hardest in the first weeks and around holidays, and it usually eases as new routines and friendships form.

What helps

• Bring a few comforting things from home
• Set regular, not constant, times to call family
• Build new routines quickly: a morning walk, a weekly meal with someone
• Say yes to small invitations, even when you don’t feel like it

Sharing space with roommates can bring friendship, but also conflict over noise, cleaning, guests and money. Small annoyances can grow when nobody says anything.

Ideas

• Agree on basics early: quiet hours, guests, chores, shared costs
• Bring up problems early and calmly, using “I” statements
• Have a space, even a corner, that is just yours
• Get help from an RA or landlord if you feel unsafe

Daily life tasks can quietly use a lot of energy, especially if you are also studying or working. When mental health dips, these tasks are often the first to slip, and the mess can make you feel worse.

Keep it simple

• Choose a weekly “reset” hour for laundry, dishes and planning
• Keep easy foods on hand for low-energy days
• Use phone reminders for bills, refills and appointments
• Do the smallest version: wash one dish, not the whole sink

Rent, job changes, health or simply needing support can lead young adults to move back in with family. That can bring relief, and also tension, as everyone adjusts to a grown child living at home.

Making it work

• Talk openly about expectations: rent or chores, guests, privacy, how long
• Set a few goals, so it feels like a step forward, not backward
• Respect each other as adults
• Keep up friendships and activities outside the house

As you become an adult, your relationship with your parents or caregivers changes. You may want more independence while still needing support. That can be confusing for everyone.

Ideas

• Tell your family what kind of support you want: advice, a listening ear, or practical help
• Set boundaries kindly: “I’ll call on Sundays, but I need to make this decision myself.”
• Share good news, not only problems
• If family relationships are painful or unsafe, it’s OK to build a “chosen family” too

In school, you saw the same people every day. As an adult, friendship usually needs more planning. Closeness grows from repeated time together, so regular activities help more than one-off events.

Ideas

• Join something that meets weekly: a team, class, choir, club or volunteer group
• Invite someone for coffee after a shared activity
• Reconnect with an old friend with a simple message
• Be the one who suggests plans. Most people are glad to be asked.

Dating in your 20s can be fun, confusing and sometimes painful. Apps can make meeting people easier, but also bring rejection, ghosting and comparison. A healthy relationship should leave you feeling safe, respected and free to be yourself.

Signs of a healthy relationship

• You feel safe and respected
• You can spend time with friends and family
• You can disagree without fear
• You can say no, and it is accepted
• You both have privacy

Red flags

• Checking your phone or accounts without permission
• Putting you down or extreme jealousy
• Keeping you from friends or family
• Pressuring you into sex
• Any physical harm

Breakups can bring sadness, anger, trouble sleeping and replaying every moment. They can also shake your sense of who you are and your plans for the future. These feelings are painful but usually ease with time and support.

What helps

• Lean on friends and family, even if you feel embarrassed
• Keep basic routines: sleep, food, movement
• Take a break from checking their social media
• Let yourself feel it, without rushing to “be over it”
• Notice if you are using alcohol or other things to numb the pain

Loneliness is about the gap between the connection you have and the connection you want. You can feel it in a full dorm, a busy office or a group chat. It is a signal, like hunger, telling you that you need closer connection.

Small steps

• Choose one or two people to go deeper with, rather than many to keep up with
• Share something real about how you are doing
• Swap one scrolling session for a phone call
• Spend time in shared spaces: libraries, gyms, parks, places of worship

Feeds show engagements, promotions, trips and perfect bodies, often edited and filtered. Comparing your behind-the-scenes to someone else’s highlight reel can leave you feeling behind or not enough, which can hurt self-esteem and body image.

Try asking yourself

• How do I feel after scrolling this account?
• What is this post not showing?
• Would I say what I’m thinking about myself to a friend?

Heavy use can crowd out sleep, and lost sleep makes stress, worry and low mood harder to handle.

Ideas

• Charge your phone outside your bed, or across the room
• Turn off screens about an hour before bed
• Use “do not disturb” and app time limits
• Replace the last scroll of the night with music, reading or stretching

More active use, like messaging friends, creating and commenting, has not shown the same links to low mood as passive scrolling. Small changes can make your online time feel better.

Ideas

• Follow accounts that teach, inspire or make you laugh
• Turn off non-essential notifications
• Set phone-free times: meals, the first hour after waking
• Use apps to connect with real friends, not just to watch strangers

Online, it can look like everyone your age is traveling, eating out and buying new things. Ads and influencer posts are designed to make you want more. Trying to keep up can lead to debt and stress.

Ways to push back

• Remember that many posts are paid ads, even when they don’t look like it
• Wait 48 hours before buying something you saw online
• Follow people who share real budgets and simple living
• Talk honestly with friends about money; many feel the same pressure

In 2024, 26.7% of U.S. young adults (9.3 million) binge drank in the past month, and 14.4% had an alcohol use disorder in the past year. Heavy drinking can harm sleep, mood, memory, grades and relationships, and raises the risk of injuries and unsafe sex.

Safer choices

• Eat before and while drinking, and alternate with water
• Decide your limit before you go out
• Never drive after drinking, or ride with someone who has
• Look out for friends, and never leave someone passed out alone
• It’s OK to say no, or to choose not to drink at all

In 2024, 24.1% of U.S. young adults (8.4 million) used marijuana in the past month. Being legal in some places doesn’t make it harmless, especially for a brain that is still maturing. Some people use it to cope with stress or sleep, which can make it harder to stop.

Things to watch for

• Needing more to get the same effect
• Using it to get through the day or to fall asleep
• Feeling anxious, paranoid or low after using
• Losing interest in goals, work or school

In 2024, 23.7% of U.S. young adults (8.3 million) vaped nicotine in the past month. Many people start vaping to relax, but nicotine withdrawal between hits can actually make you feel more irritable and anxious.

If you want to cut back

• Notice your triggers: stress, boredom, certain friends or places
• Plan a replacement: a walk, gum, a glass of water, a breathing exercise
• Tell someone you are quitting so they can support you
• Talk to your clinical provider about free quit support

Many young adults drink or use to relax, fit in, sleep or numb painful feelings. Substance use and mental health struggles often go together, and each can make the other worse. Getting help for both at the same time tends to work best.

Questions to ask yourself

• Am I using more, or more often, than I planned?
• Do I use to handle stress, sadness or loneliness?
• Have people close to me said they are worried?
• Has it caused problems with school, work, money or relationships?

If you answered yes to any of these, it might be a good time to talk to someone. The SAMHSA National Helpline (1-800-662-4357) is free, confidential and open 24/7, and can connect you with local help.

Young adults often hide struggles because they don’t want to worry you or seem like they are failing. Gentle, specific openings make it easier to talk.

Try saying

• “You don’t seem like yourself lately. How are you really doing?”
• “I’m not here to fix it or judge. I just want to listen.”
• “What would be helpful right now, if anything?”
• “It makes sense that you feel that way.”
• “Lots of people struggle at this age. You are not behind.”
• “I’m proud of you for telling me.”

Comments about timelines, comparisons or “toughening up” can deepen shame and make a young adult less likely to come to you again.

Try to avoid

• “At your age, I already had a job, a house and kids.”
• “You just need to try harder.”
• “Your cousin is doing so well.”
• “It’s just stress. Everyone feels that way.”
• “You’re too young to be depressed.”
• Questions that sound like an interrogation about grades, jobs or dating

When someone is struggling, everyday tasks can feel huge. Offering specific help, rather than “let me know if you need anything,” makes it easier to say yes.

Ideas

• Help them research therapists or insurance options, if they want
• Offer a ride to an appointment, or sit with them while they make a call
• Drop off a meal, or invite them for dinner
• Help them understand bills, forms or deadlines without taking over
• Check in regularly, especially during exams, after a breakup or a job loss

Once your child is 18, you may not be able to see their health records or talk with their providers without their permission. That can feel scary. Building trust is the best way to stay in the loop.

Ways to stay connected

• Ask if they would be willing to sign a form letting you talk with their care team
• Share your concerns with their provider; providers can listen even if they can’t share back
• Let them make choices you might not make, unless safety is at risk
• Talk about a plan for emergencies before one happens

Watching a young adult struggle, especially from far away, can bring helplessness, guilt and sleepless nights. Your well-being matters, and it helps you stay steady for them.

Ideas

• Talk with a friend, partner, support group or your own therapist
• Learn about what they are going through, so you feel less in the dark
• Accept that you can’t control their choices, only how you show up
• Keep doing things that recharge you

Active Minds is a nonprofit that supports a youth-led mental health movement, with more than 500 chapters in high schools and colleges across the U.S. Its A.S.K. program (Acknowledge, Support, Keep-in-touch) teaches young people simple steps for supporting a friend.

The Jed Foundation (JED) is a nonprofit that works to protect emotional health and prevent suicide for teens and young adults. It works with high schools and colleges and offers resources for young people and families.

Volunteering gives structure, purpose and a ready-made way to meet people who care about the same things. It can also build skills and confidence for work.

Ideas

• Food banks, animal shelters or community gardens
• Tutoring or mentoring younger kids
• Mental health awareness events
• Faith or cultural community projects

Faith communities, cultural groups and identity-based groups (like LGBTQ+ or first-generation student groups) can offer belonging and understanding, especially far from home.

Places to look

• Campus cultural and faith centers
• Local places of worship with young adult groups
• LGBTQ+ community centers
• Online communities with good moderation

A mentor can be a teacher, boss, coach, relative or older friend. They can share what they wish they had known, help you think through decisions, and remind you that a winding path is normal.

How to find one

• Ask someone you admire for a 20-minute coffee chat
• Check for mentoring programs through school, work or professional groups
• Stay in touch with teachers or coaches who helped you