Kids’ mental health is in crisis. Here’s what psychologists are doing to help

2023 CDC TRENDS REPORT: Research focused on child and teen mental health, exploring why they are struggling and what can be done to help them.
https://www.apa.org/monitor/2023/01/trends-improving-youth-mental-health
By Zara Abrams, American Psychological Association, January 1, 2024
An in-depth review of the current crisis, the stressors causing it, and strategies for expanding the capacity of schools and increasing the professional workforce.

These selected resources provide insight into the challenges youth face today. They provide constructive strategies for educators, parents, and youth who are contending with these challenges. Information is included about the separate challenges that boys and girls each face.

We invite you to recommend items of interest that we might add to our posts.

Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It

Richard V. Reeves, Brookings Institution Press, 2022.
Reeves describes the fundamental economic and social changes of recent decades that have many boys and men losing ground in the classroom, the workplace, and the family. Describes how our attitudes, institutions, and laws have failed to keep up. Suggests innovative practices and policy changes to meet the current challenges.

The Crisis of Men and Boys

By David Brooks, New York Times, September 29, 2022.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/opinion/crisis-men-masculinity.html

Brooks concisely describes how boys are struggling in the classroom and in challenging environments, how boys and men increasingly lack ambition and lead lonely, haphazard lives. How modern culture is searching for a modern masculine ideal and meanwhile is producing an "aspiration gap." He concludes that "masculinity has gone haywire" and current male political figures like Donald Trump and Josh Hawley are not helping.

Make Men Masculine Again

Prager University, 5-minute video, YouTube.
On-camera commentator Allie Stuckey uses narration and animation to make a concise, compelling analysis of why the current focus on "toxic masculinity" is contributing to male violence.

Boys and Men Are in Crisis Because Society Is

By Michelle Goldberg, New York Times, October 3, 2022.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/03/opinion/boys-men-crisis.html
A thoughtful critique of Reeves’ work, offering additional insights into why boys and men are struggling and strategies to make amends.

Saving Our Sons: A New Path for Raising Healthy and Resilient Boys

By Dr. Michael Gurian, Gurian Institute, 2017.
https://www.michaelgurian.com/products/saving-our-sons/
Dr. Gurian tackles social and cultural issues facing our sons, combining practical and political solutions with passionate social advocacy. Presents key research in male emotional intelligence and motivation development, neurotoxicity and the male brain, electronics and videogame use. Includes a 7-stage model for the journey to manhood in the new millennium.

Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men

By Leonard Saxe, M.D., PhD, Basic Books, 2019 (updated version)..
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/boys-adrift-leonard-sax/1103270970
A pioneer in research and advocacy for boys and young men, Dr. Saxe plumbs the riddle of why boys and men are falling behind. Details 5 fundamental causes – educational, social, medical, scientific, and psychological. Focus is on what parents can do to improve the odds for their sons.

The Crisis in American Girlhood

By Donna St. George, Katherine Reynolds Lewis, and Lindsey Bever, Washington Post, February 17, 2023.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/02/17/teen-girls-mental-health-crisis/
Stark findings on the pervasive sadness, suicidal thoughts, and sexual violence endured by teen girls that have jolted parents and the wider public.

The Devastating Decline In Girls’ Mental Health: 7 Ways You Can Help

Tracy Brower, PhD, Senior Contributor, Forbes Magazine

February 28, 2024

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2024/02/28/the-devastating-decline-in-girls-mental-health-7-ways-you-can-help/
While American women are succeeding by many societal metrics, teen girls are experiencing a precipitous decline in their mental and emotional health. This article provides shocking statistics about the number of teen girls experiencing depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide. It goes on to provide in-depth recommendations for how we can support teen girls to experience greater well-being.

Doom Scrolling: Social media and the teen-suicide crisis.

By Andrew Solomon, The New Yorker: Annals of Psychology, October 7, 2024.https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/10/07/social-media-mental-health-suicide-crisis-teens

Solomon provides an in-depth portrait of four couples who have lost a child to suicide. Interwoven in these portraits is the latest data, pro and con, on whether social media is to blame for the 62% rise in suicide of Americans ages 10-24 between 2007 and 2021. Solomon also details the many lawsuits being filed against the major social media tech firms by parents, school systems, and states, as well as bipartisan legislation in process to provide stronger protections for youth.

How Parents Can Take a Proactive Role in Their Child’s Education

By Timothy Rarick, Ashley Movius, Institute for Family Studies, February 1, 2023
https://ifstudies.org/blog/how-parents-can-take-a-proactive-role-in-their-childs-education

This article addresses some of the controversial questions in the national debate around children's education.

• How much influence does a parent really have over their child’s development?

• Who should be the child’s primary educator and influencer?

• What and how is the child being taught from that primary source?
  

In addition to posing these questions, the authors address the question of who has the primary right to educate children – parents or the state? And who should win when parents and the state disagree over educational content, methods, and goals?

The Politics of Loneliness

By U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, The Bulwark, December 12, 2022.
https://www.thebulwark.com/the-politics-of-loneliness/
An online post that went viral, drawing national attention to what has now been termed America’s crisis of loneliness, Points to loneliness as a contributing factor to the mental and emotional difficulties of youth.