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Lack of Independent Play Behind Youth Mental Health Crisis, Say Experts in Commentary
The current decline in children’s mental health is a long-term consequence of decades of shrinking opportunities for children and teens to play, roam, and participate in independent activities away from the direct oversight of adults, according to a commentary article published in The Journal of Pediatrics.
“Unlike other crises, such as the COVID epidemic, this decline in independent activity, and hence, mental wellbeing in children has crept up on us gradually, over decades, so many have barely noticed it,” said commentary coauthor David F. Bjorklund, PhD, a professor in the department of psychology, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida. “Moreover, unlike other health crises, this one is not the result of a highly contagious virus, but rather the result of good intentions carried too far — intentions to protect children and provide what many believed to be better (interpreted as more) schooling, both in and out of actual schools.”
The article, cowritten by corresponding author Peter Gray, PhD, of the Boston College Department of Psychology, and David F. Lancy, PhD, professor emeritus in the Utah State University College of Humanities and Social Sciences, links large declines in children’s opportunities for independent activity with concurrent increases in mental health disorders in school-age children and teens.
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Between 1950 and 2010, for example, the school year in the United States grew an average 5 weeks, according to the authors. Meanwhile, elementary school recess, including recess associated with lunch, has shrunk to a mere 26.9 minutes a day, on average. Even when the school day is over, schoolwork continues for many young children. Once rare in elementary school, homework is now commonplace as early as kindergarten.
The authors also report on the direct effect of independent activity on happiness as well as in building psychological resilience in youth. Risky play, such as climbing a tall tree, can help protect against the development of phobias, they explain. It can further ease future anxiety by boosting self-confidence to deal with emergencies.
“Parents today are regularly subject to messages about the dangers that might befall unsupervised children and the value of high achievement in school,” said Dr Bjorklund. “But they hear little of the countervailing messages that if children are to grow up well-adjusted, they need ever-increasing opportunities for independent activity, including self-directed play and meaningful contributions to family and community life, which are signs that they are trusted, responsible, and capable. They need to feel they can deal effectively with the real world, not just the world of school.”
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