It's hard to keep up with the mounting evidence that once kids leave the protective cocoon of home for college, mental pathologies blossom. In the January/February issue of Psych Today, I report how colleges are becoming incubators of eating disorders. Now a new study conducted by the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions and appearing in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs shows that drinking among females seriously escalates in the transition from high school to college and frequently puts freshman females at risk for physical or sexual assault. On the campus studied, a whopping 22% of them were physically or sexually victimized.
Rates of assault are skyrocketing at schools across the country. Last month I attended a meeting in Washington, D.C., where a university vice president revealed that in one year, violent assaults on his campus doubled. I could see heads nodding in agreement. Among the middle class and above, students are overprotected by parents so concerned about their academic success that they do everything they can to smooth their kids' path towards it—which leaves young people without opportunities to develop any coping skills of their own. And so, the administrator observed, the kids arrive at college lacking any idea how to solve even the most minor differences with roommates or other students by negotiation or compromise, so push tends to come to shove, or worse. Sexual assaults are highly correlated with binge-drinking, an activity also dramatically on the rise because students lack basic interpersonal skills and don't know how to establish common ground any other way.
The increasing psychological fragility of students is the subject of an award-winning article I wrote for Psych Today that has been greatly expanded into a soon-to-be-released book A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting. In it I not only explore causes and effects but suggest some remedies. Yet as the book speeds toward publication (April 15), my sources on the front lines of these issues continue to bombard me with proof that things are only getting worse. Over the weekend, here's what one high school administrator told me of his town, known for its excellent schools and its achievement-oriented residents.
"We've had a heck of a year including having a senior commit suicide last spring and a former student who was a sophomore at [Ivy League school] kill himself this fall. The residual anguish, finger pointing, and soul searching has been exhausting.
"Much of the work I've been doing has been around trying to help kids find a balance in our school. This year alone I've had 11 students hospitalized and tomorrow will likely yield number 12. This number only includes the students on my caseload. I'm not sure what the number is for my counterpart, but I'd guess it is similar. I'm actually encouraged by these numbers because of course we're able to get help for these students.
"I've also been in a campaign to facilitate conversations with parents, students and teachers around how to make this high school a more balanced place to exist. Parents want the school to realize their kids have more going on in their lives than just classes and homework. Teachers want parents to understand their "hovering" is not helpful to anyone and that overloading kids schedules stresses kids more than anything else. The overall message was that kids should do what they want to do and not worry about how it looks for college."
Maybe this craziness won't end until the colleges change their admission criteria.
