The article summarizes multiple lines of evidence that a major cause of the well-documented, continuous increase in anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts among young people over recent decades is the continuous decline, over those decades, in opportunities for children and teens to play, roam, and in other ways engage in activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults. Children who have more opportunities than others for independent activities are not only happier in the short run, because the activities engender happiness and a sense of trustworthiness and competence, but also happier in the long run, because independent activities promote the growth of mental capacities for coping effectively with life’s inevitable stressors.

 

The article concludes by noting that concern for children’s safety and the value of adult guidance needs to be tempered by recognition that, as children grow, they need ever increasing opportunity to manage their own activities independently. The article suggests ways by which this can be accomplished in today’s world and ways that pediatricians, family doctors, and public policy makers can help promote such change.