America’s Unhappy Teenagers Have The Same Problems We Do
Telling kids to do as you say, not as you do, just doesn’t cut it anymore.
It’s not like every generation of high schoolers was a fountain of euphoria and contentment. I graduated in 2002, and we had our own batch of emo kids as we called them, who dyed their hair black, listened to Dashboard Confessional, and resented every aspect of life, including their curfew.
Yet it’s also understandable that being a teenager is a painful junction in life, where you feel the adult yearning to be free of rules and wander the Earth, while also attempting to fit in with a motley cohort of fellow teens.
The reality is that teenage sadness and loneliness have dramatically risen over the past two decades. Regardless of your race, ethnicity, or location — the numbers are up. And the reality is that the same factors impacting teen happiness are involved in our own wellbeing.
The backdrop
It isn’t all bad.
Misconduct isn’t actually a driving factor in this unhappiness. Drinking-and-driving is down 50% since the early 1990s, when we were seeing a scourge of fatal accidents with teens. Violent crimes and fighting at school have also dropped by 50%. Sex before age 13 is down 70% (which is…
