Teens and stress

Guests: Kevin Eagan, Kenneth Ginsburg

A new survey of 150,000 college freshman found that many students are feeling depressed and overwhelmed when they enter school.  Ten percent reported feeling frequently depressed in the past year, up from six percent in 2010.  The first-years also reported socializing and drinking less, and studying more than students from previous years.  All this seems to show that today’s teens are under a lot of pressure to succeed – to get into a good college, to do well in school, and to excel in sports and other extracurricular activities.  This hour we’ll look at the toll it’s talking on adolescent mental health and their social lives, and learn how good parenting can guide them through these difficult and demanding years.  Guest host Mary Cummings-Jordan talks with KEVIN EAGAN, Director of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at UCLA which conducts the American Freshman Survey, and with KENNETH GINSBURG, professor of pediatrics and adolescent medicine specialist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the author of the new book, Raising Kids to Thrive: Balancing Love with Expectations and Protection with Trust.