It's tough being a young adult in the '90s. Both twenty-something baby busters and Gen-Xers now in their early 30s experience much greater angst than their elders. The 1995 Physical Activity Monitor, conducted by the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, affords a glimpse of the inner life of Canadians through measures of life satisfaction and emotional well-being.

Younger adults reported lower life satisfaction when asked to rate how satisfied they were with each of five fundamental aspects of their lives: their home and family life, their work or school life, their social life, their leisure activities and their physical activities.

• Work or school life Baby busters, born between 1967 and 1979, and Gen-Xers, born in the early sixties, were less likely to be very satisfied with their work or school life than were older Canadians. Only one-third of the younger adults were very satisfied with this aspect of their lives, compared with nearly half of pre-boomers.
• Home and family life A similar pattern emerged for home and family life, with only about 60% of baby busters and Gen-Xers indicating that they were very satisfied with this fundamental aspect of their lives, compared with over 70% of pre-boomers.
• Social life Of all demographic groups, Gen-Xers appeared to be the least satisfied with their social life. Only 46% reported high satisfaction with their social life, compared with 58% of pre-boomers.
• Leisure activities Baby busters and Gen-Xers, together with baby boomers, were far less inclined than their elders to be very satisfied with their leisure activities — one-third versus half of pre-boomers.
• Physical activities Baby busters, Gen-Xers and baby boomers were again clearly less inclined to say that they were very satisfied with their physical activities. About one-quarter reported being very satisfied, compared with nearly half of pre-boomers.

A telling pattern was observed with respect to emotional well-being as well. On three major indicators — self-reported stress, experiences of loneliness and hopefulness for the future — young adults showed a higher degree of mental anguish.

Specifically, Gen-Xers and baby busters were more likely than their elders to report feeling stressed all or most of the time. Baby busters were more likely to report feeling lonely at least some of the time and seemed the least hopeful about the future.

Taken together, these results suggest that besides reporting lower life satisfaction, younger Canadians experience greater loneliness and stress and are less optimistic about their future than their elders. According to the Canadian Fitness and Lifestyle Research Institute, this relatively high level of anguish experienced by younger adults is of concern and indicates a need for developing effective coping strategies to face the social and economic challenges of life in the '90s.

As a first step, Cora Craig, the Institute's President, strongly encourages an active, healthy lifestyle to combat the angst, pointing out that research shows "Regular physical activity is a powerful tool for managing stress, depression and emotional health more generally."