school and college students are simultaneously more positive about the future yet more depressed than ever .[ 3 ]
But the researchers suggest that this may not be a paradox at all . In fact , the two states may be causally linked . And as the title of the study suggests , it ' s all about the relationship between aspiration and expectation .
Those students who aspired to higher grades than they actually expected to achieve were more likely to be depressed at both the beginning and the end of the academic year .
Similarly , students who aspired to attain a certain level of education - such as being able to attend college or attain their preferred degree - but didn ' t actually expect to attain these aspirations were more depressed five years later !
Not surprisingly , for students who didn ' t care so much about their future academic attainment ( or lack thereof ), the expectation of not doing well didn ' t predict depression .
The research suggests - and I think this aligns with common sense - that when a student ' s aspiration falls a long way off from their expectation , they are at greater risk of becoming depressed . This might seem obvious , but it has important ramifications .
A gap between aspirations and expectations isn ' t , of course , the only cause of depression , but it may be a cause . If this is true , it tells us something really important about both aspiration and expectation . That happiness , in part , comes down to the extent to which we feel life has turned out as we had previously felt it should . And there ' s something else .