The mental health of the young in Asia and the Middle East: the importance of self-reports

Abstract We examine the age profile of subjective wellbeing and illbeing in nine Asian countries (Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka) and seven Middle Eastern countries (Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen). We find the relationship between age and reported wellbeing differs according to the way the survey is conducted. In the Gallup World Poll, where the data are collected by interviewers face-to-face or by telephone (computer-aided telephone interviews, or CATI) the young are the happiest and the results are the same across the two survey modes. We find the same result in CATI surveys in the Global Flourishing Survey (GFS) of 2022–2024 in 7 Asian and Middle Eastern countries. However, when the GFS survey is conducted on the web (computer-aided web interview, or CAWI) wellbeing is u-shaped in age, and is highest among the oldest respondents. If we turn to negative affect measures (loneliness, anxiety, depression, worry) these rise with age using CATI but fall with age using CAWI. We look for survey mode switching in the age coefficient across 40 outcomes. In general, the switch is confined to subjective wellbeing and illbeing metrics. Switching does not occur when respondents are asked about their physical health, bodily pain, unemployment status, drinking and smoking, or personality-related questions. It appears that the mode effect is largely confined to how individuals rate their subjective wellbeing and illbeing. The results are suggestive of social desirability response bias which leads young people to under-report socially undesirable affective states to interviewers.