I appreciate comments. But this is not about blaming, but ascribing responsibility to delineate where action is needed.
We have a serious issue in the United States, with drugs as an example. The US has tried various policy approaches, from draconian punishments of drug abuse to attempted regulation to outright legalization. ALL of these have been disasters. The American adult cannot handle illegal, regulated, or legal drugs -- yet, adults demand more and more freedoms, from access to more drugs, as well as guns.
As a liberal-left criminal justice advocate, I opposed policing and imprisonment. Yet, nothing works, nor does anyone have a solution. In the latest CDC survey, 30% of teens reported histories of parents/caretakers with drug/alcohol abuse, and mental health, jailing, and violent and emotional abuse numbers are even higher. These are staggering, and they are uniformly worse in right-wing Republican states than liberal cities and states.
So, while I am being taken to task for "blaming," the fact is, the United States must flatly face this crisis, stop the frankly stupid distraction of blaming teenagers and social media, and confront politically unpopular grownup crises. I don't know if other countries are facing these same crises at lesser levels -- it looks like the UK, Australia, and Canada have similar trends though not as bad as the US. I welcome further comments, as always.
sorry if my sarcasm came on too thick. I do think parents are a big cause. Specifically I wanted to know if you think physical abuse has increased or decreased over the last 10, 20, 30+ years, or if you think there are other forms of abuse/neglect that are more salient than physical abuse.
I'm fine with blunt comments. I had thought adult (not only parent, but other household adult) violence against youth had fallen due to the decline in corporal punishment. Then, the 2021 and 2023 surveys found 35% of students had a history of adult violence in their homes, 15% on a regular basis. That's pretty shocking, as is the teen mental health debate completely ignoring this crucial factor, which includes a majority of depressed girls.
Right, but is there any evidence that this 35% is higher or lower than historical rates? If it's been the same rate for 50 years, or declining, then it doesn't explain sudden increases in teen mental health problems.
Good question. There is evidence from child victimization surveys that adult violence against children rose from 2011 to 2021, but the surveys are inconsistent enough to allow Twenge et al to dodge them. We have no good surveys on abuse issues over time.
What we do have, solid and irrefutable, is that parent-age adult (25-64) drug overdose deaths and hospital ER cases have soared from 2.8 million in 2010 to over 5 million in 2022, a truly staggering number. In turn, parental/adult addiction is strongly tied to teens' depression, suicide attempt, etc., in the 2023 CDC survey -- it is the addicted-parent population in which teen troubles are centered.
Finally, adult addiction is closely tied to domestic abuses, criminality, and mental health problems, so if drug/alcohol abuse soared, we can surmise with good evidence these adult problems afflicting teens also rose during the very time period (2010-2021) their own mental health problems rose.
Certainly, the scientific evidence that parental and household adult crises and abuses are far more important drivers of both the levels of and increases in teens' mental health problems is powerful, compared to the literally nothing evidence indicting social media. But yes, I wish we had more consistent, definitive measures to nail these issues down.
Excellent work Mike, thank you.
Fascinating. I’m going to have to think about this for awhile. Thank you.
No Mike, we have to do everything possible to avoid blaming parents! We need a digital scapegoat, a boogeyman, a poltergeist to blame!
However, is physical abuse increasing? I've seen data that spanking is decreasing, and parental violence is down since 1994:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61706-7/abstract
I appreciate comments. But this is not about blaming, but ascribing responsibility to delineate where action is needed.
We have a serious issue in the United States, with drugs as an example. The US has tried various policy approaches, from draconian punishments of drug abuse to attempted regulation to outright legalization. ALL of these have been disasters. The American adult cannot handle illegal, regulated, or legal drugs -- yet, adults demand more and more freedoms, from access to more drugs, as well as guns.
As a liberal-left criminal justice advocate, I opposed policing and imprisonment. Yet, nothing works, nor does anyone have a solution. In the latest CDC survey, 30% of teens reported histories of parents/caretakers with drug/alcohol abuse, and mental health, jailing, and violent and emotional abuse numbers are even higher. These are staggering, and they are uniformly worse in right-wing Republican states than liberal cities and states.
So, while I am being taken to task for "blaming," the fact is, the United States must flatly face this crisis, stop the frankly stupid distraction of blaming teenagers and social media, and confront politically unpopular grownup crises. I don't know if other countries are facing these same crises at lesser levels -- it looks like the UK, Australia, and Canada have similar trends though not as bad as the US. I welcome further comments, as always.
sorry if my sarcasm came on too thick. I do think parents are a big cause. Specifically I wanted to know if you think physical abuse has increased or decreased over the last 10, 20, 30+ years, or if you think there are other forms of abuse/neglect that are more salient than physical abuse.
I'm fine with blunt comments. I had thought adult (not only parent, but other household adult) violence against youth had fallen due to the decline in corporal punishment. Then, the 2021 and 2023 surveys found 35% of students had a history of adult violence in their homes, 15% on a regular basis. That's pretty shocking, as is the teen mental health debate completely ignoring this crucial factor, which includes a majority of depressed girls.
Right, but is there any evidence that this 35% is higher or lower than historical rates? If it's been the same rate for 50 years, or declining, then it doesn't explain sudden increases in teen mental health problems.
Good question. There is evidence from child victimization surveys that adult violence against children rose from 2011 to 2021, but the surveys are inconsistent enough to allow Twenge et al to dodge them. We have no good surveys on abuse issues over time.
What we do have, solid and irrefutable, is that parent-age adult (25-64) drug overdose deaths and hospital ER cases have soared from 2.8 million in 2010 to over 5 million in 2022, a truly staggering number. In turn, parental/adult addiction is strongly tied to teens' depression, suicide attempt, etc., in the 2023 CDC survey -- it is the addicted-parent population in which teen troubles are centered.
Finally, adult addiction is closely tied to domestic abuses, criminality, and mental health problems, so if drug/alcohol abuse soared, we can surmise with good evidence these adult problems afflicting teens also rose during the very time period (2010-2021) their own mental health problems rose.
Certainly, the scientific evidence that parental and household adult crises and abuses are far more important drivers of both the levels of and increases in teens' mental health problems is powerful, compared to the literally nothing evidence indicting social media. But yes, I wish we had more consistent, definitive measures to nail these issues down.