News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

Few people would associate affluent teens with stress or depression, but studies are finding exactly that. It's the subject of the book "The Price of Privilege" by clinical psychologist Madeline Levine.

"Pressure from parents and the outside world to take AP classes, excel in a sport and do community service on top of hours of homework each night produces kids who are stressed, angry and disconnected from their world, Levine said."

Levine goes on to say that increased cases of cutting - intentional self-mutilation - are the result of kids living in a world where they're expected to look good no matter how bad they feel. She encouraged parents to spend time simply getting to know their kids, rather than checking up on grades, athletic performance, or college applications. Read more at CoastLinePilot.com.

Labels: pressures, stress, self-harm

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Teens who engage in self-injury are becoming more common -- and may be engaging in this behavior as an escape from stress and pressure -- similar to the emotions that often lead to teen substance abuse.

• Adolescent selft-harm usually starts between the ages of 11 to 15 years old.
• Between 4 and 38% of teenagers are cutters.
• Boys are more likely to burn themselves and girls are more likely to use knives and razors.
• The behavior seems to be increasing among young people; for example, a study at one university found the number of students who injure themselves doubled between 1997 and 2007.

"The vast majority of people who report non-suicidal self-injury are not trying to end their lives -- they are trying to cope with life," said Janis Whitlock, a researcher at Cornell University who studies this behavior. "People use self-injury in a lot of ways that other people use drugs or alcohol or food or sex -- to try to feel better in the short run."
 

Labels: alcohol, drug_use, self-harm

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