The article points to a cluster of causes rather than one culprit: shrinking economic opportunity, accumulated trauma, lack of affordable care across the life course (which leaves acute and chronic problems under-treated), and “deaths of despair” (suicide, alcohol, and drug overdoses). Car crashes and gun violence add to the toll, but this mix is what distinguishes younger U.S. cohorts from peers in other rich countries. The result is higher mortality for Millennials and now Gen Z, with little sign of improvement unless those conditions change.
