This doesn’t surprise me one bit. I’m a member of Generation X but if I was a Millennial I’d probably be depressed too.

Andrew Desiderio of the College Fix reports.

STUDY: Millennials more depressed than Gen-X counterparts

Millennials are more depressed than their Generation X counterparts, a fact attributed partly to millennials’ unrealistic expectations, according to a new study.

“Recent adolescents have more self-focused fears than their 1980s counterparts, are more likely to believe they are above average, and have expectations more out of line with reality,” San Diego State University psychology professor Jean Twenge writes in the study.

Twenge, author of “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable than Ever Before,” said the problem isn’t necessarily that young people today are narcissistic. She said millennials have “unrealistic expectations.”

“Apparently, the pressures, lifestyles, and social forces of modern life have led people to experience more psychosomatic issues such as sleeping issues and difficulty concentrating,” the study notes. “However, they have not led to greater overt reports of depression, nor to greater suicidal ideation.”

GenX’ers were born between 1961 and 1981, whereas millennials were born in the 1980s and 1990s, according to the study.

“Compared to those in the 1980s, today’s young people are more likely to say they have trouble sleeping and remembering and to say they feel overwhelmed,” Twenge said in an interview with The College Fix. “But they are not any more likely to say they are depressed when asked directly.”

Twenge argues in her book that the millennial generation is “changing what it means to be an individual in today’s society.” The study, which was released to coincide with the release of a new edition of her book, takes on the same issues. Americans are, according to the study, more apt today to report symptoms of depression and anxiety than in the past.

In effect, millennials are “very stressed out,” but not because of an increased willingness to admit it than past generations, Twenge said.