Mal Fletcher comments on Generation X and how generational characteristics in youth might impact upon adult behaviour in middle-age

The Millennial generation is generally adjudged to range in age today from around 15 years to the early 30s. The eldest of them may presently fit at the very low end of the group cited in the Samaritans study. This generation has been the most watched-over in recent times, with CCTV cameras abounding in major cities and relatively tight security around many urban schools and playgrounds.

This generation has also been the most managed in our time, with a heavy parental involvement in mapping out homework, activity and play schedules.

Millennials have been raised during relatively stable and, until recently, largely prosperous times. Their parents have invested heavily in studying how to actualise their children's potential and in providing extra-curricula projects to develop their gifts. The dominant message these young people have received growing up is one of affirmation. 'You're part of a very talented and well-equipped generation. You'll go far.'

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, a number of international studies - at least in the developed world - suggest that Millennials are more optimistic about the future than their forebears. They expect that, given the right opportunities, they can, with their peers and using the collaborative power of digital technology, create a better future.

They aspire to marry the blue skies thinking of the Boomer generation (early 50s to early 70s), with the grass-roots mindset of Generation X (mid-30s to early 50s). In doing so, they expect to be able to tell a very different kind of generational story.

This may go some of the way to explaining why levels of suicide among younger adults have dropped compared to those aged 34 and above.

Of course, there will be older Millennials within the latter bracket who find that, having been promised the world, their reality does not match their expectations. They emerge from years of university study unable to find meaningful, long-term jobs and the prospects of ticking off 'success boxes' such as owning a home are dwindling for them.

However, most of the group represented by the latest suicide figures may be counted among Generation X. This very resourceful cohort - and again we must speak generically - received perhaps the lowest level of nurturing during childhood of all the great generations of our time.

They arrived on the scene as their parents were still busy dealing with the do-your-own-thing hyper-individualism of the 1960s and early 70s. Or the greed-is-good, self-actualisation of the late 70s and early 80s. Their arrival wasn't met with any huge new toy industries or book series written just for children.

Generation X featured heavily in my early work as the leader of a national network of youth organisations. Studies revealed that, by the beginning of the 1990s, youth suicide in our country was at its highest rate on record. This coincided with the teenage years of GenXers.

At the same time, these kids were also part of the 'latchkey generation'. Many would arrive home from school, let themselves into the house and sit for hours without any adult company or supervision.

In the late 80s, I also toured the UK several times, speaking to audiences of mainly young people. I found that, largely due to globalisation, British young people struggled with many of the same issues as those in my homeland. These included anxiety about the future and depression.

In fact, I discovered that a number of highly developed nations in Europe were battling with the same youth suicide problem as Australia.

An academic study needs to be done on how generational characteristics in youth might impact upon adult behaviour in middle-age. There are, I think, factors here that may help us better understand the plight of those people, men in particular, who now believe there is no hope for a brighter tomorrow.

[1] www.ic.nhs.uk/webfiles/publications/003_Health_Lifestyles/Alcohol_2012/Statistics_on_Alcohol_England_2012.pdf