The American Psychological Association calls this form of apprehension, anticipatory anxiety: “a worry about an upcoming event or situation because of the possibility of a negative outcome.” In other words, it’s a worry about the future and the fear that bad things might happen or that you might become unable to successfully accomplish what you set out to do.

It’s a growing problem for the U.S. but also for much of the rest of the world. Kelly Sims Gallagher, professor of energy and environmental policy and interim dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, cites climate change as an example of this kind of anxiety among young adults.

She says in a forthcoming article in Foreign Affairs that “Climate change is not just transforming the environment: it is also exacting a marked toll on mental health. In July 2023, scientists at Yale published a study of the psychological effects of climate change on adults in the United States and found that 7 percent were experiencing mild to severe climate-related psychological distress. Among millennials and members of Gen Z, the figure is 10 percent. A global study published in 2021 by The Lancet Planetary Health found that 59 percent of respondents between the ages of 16 and 25 were very worried or extremely worried about climate change. These young people despaired of attempts by their governments to address the climate crisis and reported feeling that older generations had betrayed their generation and future ones: 77 percent of young Brazilians felt this way, as did 56 percent of young Americans.”

What will their lives be like over the next 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, if the planet keeps getting warmer, storms intensify, forest fires ravage much of the western parts of North America, tornadic activity increases, sea levels continue to rise, and tropical diseases creep further north. It’s not just about their lives but what about their children?

Of course, their angst can be the result of more than just climate change. Social media is having a quantifiable affect on mental health. Advanced technology and artificial intelligence have become worrisome among all ages as even experts don’t seem to be able to predict how they will ultimately affect humankind. Anxiety about the future of jobs, dysfunctional government, housing and increases in the wealth gap have much of the middle class moving backwards in terms of lifestyle and standard of living. Not so surprising then, anticipatory anxiety.

But let’s get back to the children. Birth rates are diving in the U.S., according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal. “The general fertility rate dropped 3 percent to 54.4 births per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44, with declines across most race and ethnic groups tracked by the federal government.” These fertility rates have fallen to a record low.

That same article reported that, “The total fertility rate fell to 1.62 births per woman in 2023, a 2% decline from a year earlier, federal data released Thursday showed. It is the lowest rate recorded since the government began tracking it in the 1930s. The decline reflects a continuing trend as American women navigate economic and social challenges that have prompted some to forgo or delay having children. At the same time, young people are also more uncertain about their futures and spending more of their income on home ownership, student debt and childcare. Some women who wait to have children might have fewer than they would have otherwise for reasons including declining fertility.”

“People are making rather reasoned decisions about whether or not to have a child at all,” said Karen Benjamin Guzzo, director of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The so-called “replacement rate” for the U.S. is a birthrate of about 2.1 per 1,000. The rate of 1.62 in 2023 marked a new low and a sign of years of decline. The concerns and consequences are even greater in China. Rising and robust birthrates are hopeful signs for seniors who rely on growth if not demographic stability for retirement incomes. Not so surprising then, anticipatory anxiety.

The New York Times recently ran an article on “Why the Young and the Single Can’t Commit to Dating Apps: the two largest dating-app companies are facing serious problems with younger users.” The dating app fatigue has much to do with the unsatisfying effects of high-tech and low touch digital matchmaking where young people are increasingly interested in “in person dating events.” Makes me think of the scene with Marty McFly in “Back to the Future,” when he plays and sings at his parents high school dance party, as in, I’m thinking back to the way things were.

I happen to know more than one of these Gen Z and millennial young adults struggling with these digital-relationship anxieties adding to apprehensions about their futures.

Time strides quickly over these serious challenges facing our country and the world, and that exacerbates anticipatory anxieties.

There are no simple solutions to any of these issues, but the need to address them is paramount. As the saying suggests, once begun, half done.

And for many of these issues we need to think globally. Whether the issue is climate change or social media, these are worldwide problems. We don’t end the threat of climate change unless we as more endowed nations are willing to commit to helping developing countries lessen their carbon emissions. Unless globally we can figure out how to put common guardrails on social media, mental health issues will continue to proliferate. Unless we can figure out how to limit the social and cultural effects of mass migrations of people across the globe and the pernicious effects of global terrorism, anticipatory anxiety among the world’s rising generations will spiral from optimism and hopefulness to hopelessness.

The stakes are high and for our youth, despair shouldn’t be a consequence.

Bill Sims is a Hillsboro resident, retired president of the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, an author and runs a small farm in Berrysville with his wife. He is a former educator, executive and foundation president.