Mental Health of Generation Z: An Analysis of Digital Behaviors, Social Identity, and Psychological Adjustment
Keywords:
Generation Z, mental health, digital behavior, social media, social identity, psychological adjustment, qualitative researchAbstract
This study aimed to explain Generation Z members’ lived experiences of how digital behaviors, social identity processes, and networked interactions shape their mental health and psychological adjustment. This qualitative study employed a descriptive-interpretive design. Participants were 24 young adults aged 18–27 years residing in Tehran, Iran, who were recruited through purposive maximum-variation sampling. Data were collected exclusively through individual semi-structured interviews lasting between 45 and 75 minutes. Indications of theoretical saturation emerged after the twenty-first interview, and three additional interviews were conducted to confirm saturation. The data were analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis with the assistance of NVivo 14. Trustworthiness was enhanced through participant checking, peer review, maintenance of an audit trail, reflexive documentation, and maximum-variation sampling. The analysis generated 612 initial codes, 57 condensed codes, 15 subcategories, and five main categories: “the dual digital life: connecting and exhausting,” “multilayered identity and algorithmic self-presentation,” “social comparison and dependence on online validation,” “networked belonging alongside hidden loneliness,” and “digital self-regulation and the reconstruction of psychological adjustment.” Participants described digital environments as simultaneous sources of learning, communication, social support, and self-expression and as contexts associated with attentional fragmentation, disrupted sleep, fear of missing out, comparison pressure, identity uncertainty, and mood fluctuations. Clear temporal boundaries, meaningful offline relationships, critical media literacy, purposeful use, and psychological distance from online feedback were associated with better adjustment. Generation Z’s mental health is not an inevitable consequence of technology use but an outcome of interactions among personal vulnerabilities, patterns of digital engagement, platform affordances, identity experiences, social support, and self-regulatory capacities. Active, authentic, purposeful, and relationship-oriented use may enhance belonging and competence, whereas passive, comparison-driven, compulsive, and validation-dependent use may increase psychological vulnerability. Mental health interventions should therefore move beyond restricting screen time and prioritize emotional and media literacy, digital boundary management, coherent identity development, supportive relationships, and context-sensitive self-regulation.
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