Young adults and mental health: Is more childhood independence the answer?

Post by copperx » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 6:17 AM UTC

rychco wrote: post #221

jasonhansel wrote: post #9

> Chentsova Dutton said America has an international reputation for prizing autonomy, but her study opened her eyes to a more complicated picture. American parents tend to be overprotective when children are young, acting as if kids are going to live at home for a long time, like parents do in Italy. Yet they also expect children to live away from home fairly early for college, like families do in Germany. The result…

The stereotypical American helicopter-parent/soccer-mom can be viewed as a direct result of poor zoning practices & the resulting suburban sprawl. A typical child is completely incapable of going anywhere without the guidance of a car-driving parent. It is unlikely, either on foot or bike, that they are able to get to school, get to/from sports practice, meet with friends, shop at local stores, run errands, have a pa…

Post by granshaw » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 6:25 AM UTC

twayt wrote: post #206

mancerayder wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you said is all true. The part that is controversial to me about what you said is that these expectations didn't exist even moreso in times past. My reading of the past, certainly the modern past where we have literature of the time, TV shows of the era, advertising and so on, is that roles-based expectations were even MORE extreme decades and centuries ago. As I write this I begin to think, maybe one problem is…

Rigid expectations may have been more prevalent but they most certainly were also more attainable because the competitive group was smaller. Rigid expectations might actually be better for humans. Having multiple potential paths and failing at all of them due to unconcentrated effort is worse

Post by granshaw » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 6:28 AM UTC

thebigman433 wrote: post #247

escapedmoose wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The kids I know these days are fantastic. They’re empathetic, smart, polite, and all-around much better people than my friends and I were at their age. They’re so good and they give me so much hope. But they’re also troubled. They struggle with anxiety and depression (and younger) more deeply than anyone I knew growing up. My theory is that we’ve simply handed them a more difficult world to grow up in. They’re handli…

I teach outdoor ed for a program where kids come for a week at a time, so I get to see thousands of kids per semester. I would very much agree with this statement. Overall, Ive experienced that today's youth is largely very empathetic and kind, much moreso than I was as a kid, but anxiety absolutely plagues them. A very notable exception to this is the rich/well off kids Ive been with. They very much do not show the…

Post by bobsmooth » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 6:37 AM UTC

rychco wrote: post #221

jasonhansel wrote: post #9

> Chentsova Dutton said America has an international reputation for prizing autonomy, but her study opened her eyes to a more complicated picture. American parents tend to be overprotective when children are young, acting as if kids are going to live at home for a long time, like parents do in Italy. Yet they also expect children to live away from home fairly early for college, like families do in Germany. The result…

The stereotypical American helicopter-parent/soccer-mom can be viewed as a direct result of poor zoning practices & the resulting suburban sprawl. A typical child is completely incapable of going anywhere without the guidance of a car-driving parent. It is unlikely, either on foot or bike, that they are able to get to school, get to/from sports practice, meet with friends, shop at local stores, run errands, have a pa…

Post by geysersam » Sat, Dec 31, 2022, 6:40 AM UTC

darknavi wrote: post #248

rychco wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stereotypical American helicopter-parent/soccer-mom can be viewed as a direct result of poor zoning practices & the resulting suburban sprawl. A typical child is completely incapable of going anywhere without the guidance of a car-driving parent. It is unlikely, either on foot or bike, that they are able to get to school, get to/from sports practice, meet with friends, shop at local stores, run errands, have a pa…

Not that it _should_ be this way, but me and my friends would scooter/bike to school all the time in elementary/junior high (~2002-2008) and it was easily a few miles each way in Western Washington (not rural). I don't plan on having kids but I wonder if I'd let them do that today. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure I ever told my parents I did that.