A study in China found that young people who adopted the “Lying Flat” lifestyle—a passive attitude characterized by giving up efforts and goals in order to relieve competitive pressure—tend to report lower satisfaction with their lives. Interestingly, this passive attitude predicted lower life satisfaction later, but life satisfaction did not predict future adoption of this lifestyle, indicating that it is the “lying flat” attitude that leads to diminished life satisfaction. The paper was published in Behavioral Sciences.
The “Lying Flat” phenomenon, known in Chinese as tang ping, is a social trend that emerged in China as a quiet form of resistance to intense work and social pressures. It refers to the decision of some young people to withdraw from competitive career striving and material ambition. Instead of pursuing promotions, property ownership, or marriage at all costs, individuals adopting this stance aim to meet only minimal living needs. It describes a personal rejection of societal pressures to overwork and over-achieve. Literally, tang ping refers to a person lying flat on their back, with the whole body relaxed, making no movement, and responding to nothing.
The movement arose partly in response to long working hours, high housing prices, economic inequality, and limited upward mobility. It is closely connected to criticism of the so-called “996” work culture (working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week). People supporting tang ping describe feelings of burnout, disillusionment, and a lack of meaningful reward for extreme effort. Unlike overt protest movements, lying flat is largely a passive and individual adaptation rather than a collective and organized one.
Chinese authorities and state media have criticized it as defeatist and socially irresponsible. Some online discussions about the phenomenon were censored, reflecting political sensitivity around youth disengagement. More broadly, the concept has become a symbol of generational fatigue in high-pressure economies. It is conceptually similar to the phenomenon of “quiet quitting” or the rise of NEETs (Not in Employment, Education, or Training) that became popular in Western societies at roughly a similar time.
Lead author Huanhua Lu and colleagues wanted to examine the relationship between the adoption of the “lying flat” (tang ping) lifestyle and life satisfaction. Their hypothesis was that the adoption of this lifestyle would be associated with lower life satisfaction, and that this lifestyle would actively diminish satisfaction with life over time. They conducted two studies.
Participants in the first study were 960 undergraduates from Beijing. Their average age was approximately 20 years, and roughly 55% of them were men. Of the total, 470 were recruited from a national “double first-class” key university (an institution with better financial and academic resources), while 490 were from an ordinary college. Study participants completed assessments of their endorsement of the “lying flat” lifestyle (using the Lying Flat Tendency Scale) and their life satisfaction (using the life satisfaction dimension of the Index of Well-being).
The second study involved a final sample of 109 participants from a university who completed a longitudinal follow-up study (originally 120 were recruited, but 11 dropped out). Their average age was 19 years, and 44 of them were women. They completed the same two assessments twice, one month apart.
Results of the first study showed that the endorsement of the “lying flat” lifestyle was associated with significantly lower life satisfaction, even after controlling for gender, age, university attended, and subjective socioeconomic status. Women tended to endorse the “lying flat” lifestyle more than men. Furthermore, this lifestyle tended to be endorsed more by students from the ordinary college than by those from the “double first-class” university.
Results of the second study showed that endorsement of the “lying flat” lifestyle at the first time point negatively predicted life satisfaction one month later. However, life satisfaction at the start of the study did not predict the endorsement of the “lying flat” lifestyle one month later. This indicates that it is likely the “lying flat” lifestyle that leads to diminished life satisfaction and not vice versa.
“The present study first revealed a temporal directionality between the ‘lying flat’ and life satisfaction. This suggests that ‘lying flat’, which serves as a temporary relief mechanism in the face of overwhelming pressure, may come at the cost of long-term psychological functioning,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the broader psychological implications of adopting the “lying flat” lifestyle. However, it should be noted that the study was conducted on young people from Beijing universities. Studies on other demographic groups, other areas, and people from different cultures might not produce identical results.
The paper, “Does “Lying Flat” Lead to Greater Life Satisfaction? Evidence from Empirical Research,” was authored by Huanhua Lu, Jinli Wang, and Feng Kong.
