A "primary cause of the rise in mental disorders" is helicopter parenting

"Be home before dinner!"

"This article in the 'Journal of Pediatrics' ... summarises a wide swathe of evidence showing that a major (but not sole) cause of the increase in anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts among young people over recent decades has been the continuous decline in opportunities for them to play and roam independent of adults. ...

“Our thesis is that a primary cause of the rise in mental disorders is a decline over decades in opportunities for children and teens to play, roam, and engage in other activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults. ... [C]hildren who have more opportunities for independent activities are not only happier in the short run, because the activities engender happiness and a sense of competence, but also happier in the long run, because independent activities promote the growth of capacities for coping with life’s inevitable stressors.” ...

    "Emily Oster, author of several popular books on data-driven parenting including “Expecting Better,” examined the paper and wrote in her substack that ... it is indisputable that kids are less free, and less trusted to be competent, responsible, resourceful young adults than they were in the ’80s ... Meantime, [we have] met [Year 7 children today who are] not yet allowed to play at the park, walk to school, or cut their own meat.

    "Why are trust, responsibility, and independence so crucial to kids’ mental health?

    "Because that’s how you get a sense of what you can handle, and of who you are in the world: A competent, growing person — not a baby or a bonsai tree.
    "Children need independence milestones.
    "Think about a time you were trusted by your parents or another adult to do something without them — come home by dinner, run an errand, walk your sister to soccer…
    "That’s a milestone we don’t SEE as a milestone, because it seems so…minor. But those are the milestones that mark the path to maturity. Take them away, and kids are stuck in baby mode, feeling helpless and needy.
    "And depressed and anxious.
    "The 'Journal of Pediatrics' article talks about how important it is to have an 'internal locus of control' — a sense that you can make things happen, and deal with problems that arise. An 'external locus of control' — as I think you can guess — is the feeling that someone or something else is in the driver’s seat. (And you’re in a 5-point harness.)
    "Our culture accidentally swapped out childhood freedom and responsibility for adult-run activities. We thought we were eliminating risk, and making them happy.
    "We went too far....

“[C]oncern for children’s safety and the value of adult guidance
needs to be tempered by recognition that children need ever-increasing opportunity to manage their own activities.”

"The message through all of this — including, now, a peer-reviewed journal article — is simple: When adults step back, kids step up."

~ Lenore Skenazy, from her post 'Over the Decades, As Kids’ Independence Declined, Their Anxiety Increased'