In the past two years every major organization dedicated to adolescent health and development has sounded the alarm on mental health. The latest CDC data describes the crisis in detail. In 2021, more than four in ten students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third experienced poor mental health.
In the wake of this report, there has been a cascade of articles trying to answer the question, “What is going on here?”
While it’s tempting to pin the blame for these trends on one factor, be wary of simple explanations. The reality is that there is seldom a single driver of mental health problems.
As we search for answers, let’s ground this data in historical context. The latest CDC data may well represent a recent high point given that many teens in 2021 were experiencing intense pandemic-related stress. Yet these are far from isolated numbers. We have seen a dramatic rise in the number of teens who are experiencing anxiety and depression in the last ten to fifteen years. Plus, rates of anxiety and depression among teens have been increasing over the last fifty to sixty years, trendlines that have been true for children and young adults as well.
While it’s tempting to pin the blame for these trends on one factor, let’s be wary of simple explanations. The reality is that there is seldom a single driver of mental health problems. We should be looking at social media and trauma and racism and loneliness and inequality and other factors. A group of pediatricians recently published a commentary in the Journal of Pediatrics suggesting that the decline in independent activities could also play a role.
Their article doesn’t demonstrate causation. It doesn’t have to. Whether it is a primary factor or just one among many is less important than the compelling reminder that kids and teens do better with spaces to play and room to roam.
Less independence, more structure
We know that warm and caring connections with adults are the single largest protective factor for children’s mental health. But that doesn’t mean that kids need to be constantly under direct supervision and instruction. The authors show evidence that kids’ freedom to engage in independent activities has declined significantly over the last four or five decades. This includes things like unstructured outdoor play as well as activities like biking or walking to school or engaging in community independently.
Kids and teens do better with spaces to play and room to roam.
Independent activities include:
- Unstructured imaginative play
- Outdoor play
- Walking or biking to school
- Part time jobs
- Independent contributions to community
- Roaming
The authors of this commentary point to a number of complex factors that may be contributing to this decline. These range from increased time on school work; experiences of and/or perceptions of community and traffic safety; economic pressures; and changes in amount of or priorities during free time.
Unfortunately what adults often categorize as “play” is actually closely supervised and scheduled programs or activities. Adults don’t have to be entirely absent for play to happen, but they can certainly get in the way by taking over.
Let them play
We’ve known for a long time that free play is a critical ingredient in children’s happiness and wellbeing. If you doubt this, just ask a group of kids. For example, one study of six to eight-year-olds showed that nearly every single depiction of activities that made them happy were identified as play.
Researchers define play as any activity that we are intrinsically motivated to do. Play isn’t prescribed or required. Instead, it is kids engaging in “joyful discovery” with other kids. To be clear, play isn’t just for little ones. Teens need play too.
Unfortunately what adults often categorize as “play” is actually closely supervised and scheduled programs or activities. Adults don’t have to be entirely absent for play to happen, but they can certainly get in the way by taking over.
Why are independent activities key to wellbeing?
Free play and independent activities aren’t just fun. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, they are essential to kids’ health and development. They give kids and teens the chance to practice skills like:
- Developing and maintaining goals
- Negotiating conflict and building social skills
- Managing risk
- Creative problem solving
- Regulating feelings and behavior
- Responsibility for self and others
Playing, roaming, and contributing also make kids feel better. The authors of the recent commentary in Pediatrics share three core factors that they argue are key to wellbeing: autonomy, competence and relatedness. Indeed, studies across cultures and ages show that fulfilling these core needs predicts mental wellbeing. Play and other self-directed activities seem to be uniquely situated to fulfill these needs. For example, a recent study looks at “exploratory behaviors” among teenagers. They found that highly exploratory teenagers reported larger social networks and better moods. Another recent meta-analysis (a study of studies) found that physical activity among teenagers helped relieve depressive symptoms. The effect was greater when the physical activity was unsupervised than when it was fully or partially supervised.
The authors note that, “if children are to grow up well-adjusted, they need ever-increasing opportunities for independent activity, including self-directed play and meaningful contributions to family and community life, which are signs that they are trusted, responsible, and capable.”
High pressure environments tend to backfire
The inverse appears to be true as well. Students who attend high pressure schools suffer from anxiety and depression at higher levels than teens in lower pressure schools. This could be due to the pressure to succeed, the near elimination of free and unstructured time, or both. For most kids, regardless of where they attend school, homework time has gone up while recess time has gone down.
To be clear, independence isn’t about taking on adult responsibilities too soon. Many young people have to work multiple jobs on top of the demands of school or assume the role of primary caretaker for younger siblings. High pressure early independence, often driven by resource scarcity and lack of a social safety net for families, can erode mental health instead of boosting it.
Let’s couple a commitment to nurturing independent activities with a commitment to creating systems where all kids can enjoy and benefit from them.
The right to play and roam is not neutral
Of course there are some real constraints to free play and independent activities. Some caregivers have justified fears about the safety of their communities or limited access to spaces and places appropriate for exploration. Plus the ability to roam and play free of policing and pathologizing are shaped in insidious and often dangerous ways by racism. For example, we have too many examples of Black children running, exploring, and playing who are met with punishment and violence. White teens are more likely to benefit from the assumption of innocence while teens of color are more likely to be perceived as threatening.
In other words, the right to play and enjoy independent activities is not equitably distributed among kids and teens. Simply saying, “we should let kids play and roam” is insufficient in the face of these challenges. So let’s couple a commitment to nurturing independent activities with a commitment to creating systems where all kids can enjoy and benefit from them.
The list of things that kids and teens are capable of doing together is endless. If only we step back long enough to let them try.
Stepping back
It’s clear from the research that a strong web of relationships with caring adults is key to improving mental health. But kids also benefit from experiences apart from them. Adults can facilitate this by sharing power, expanding opportunities, and letting kids lead. We can keep also kids’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness in mind as we make choices about when to step in and when to step back at different ages and in different contexts.
Try thinking about,
- Does my child or teen have frequent opportunities to experience independent play or self-directed activities alone or with friends?
- Can they enjoy these activities with the “right amount” of risk (not free of risk but not dangerous)?
- What are the constraints that limit those freedoms? Can I change any of them?
- What are my fears about those activities? How can I test whether these fears are founded? What skills can I teach my kid to manage the risks they will encounter?
- Who can I reach out to to access or organize “safe enough” places and times where kids can play and move about freely?
- What are one or two activities that I currently do for my child or teen and that they could do on their own or with friends?
- What are one or two activities that I currently do for our family that my child or teen would enjoy doing for our family?
Whether it is free play, running errands, preparing food, exploring neighborhoods, walking or biking to school in groups, taking public transportation, roaming, creating art, fixing or building things, contributing, helping others, or organizing with peers around issues they care about, the list of things that kids and teens are capable of doing together is endless. If only we step back long enough to let them try.