High-achieving schools connote risks for adolescents: Problems documented, processes implicated, and directions for interventions
By Suniya S. Luthar, Nina L. Kumar, & Nicole Zillmer (American Psychologist, 75 [October 2020], 983-995).
Over the past decade, educators and researchers have observed an increased rate of psychological distress among children and adolescents. A 2020 article by Suniya Luthar and colleagues noted that, contrary to what many would expect, a group at particularly high risk for anxiety and depression are teens attending what are known as high-achieving schools (HAS). These schools are highly resourced, coveted places that promise to deliver their graduates to the most competitive colleges and universities. The extreme pressure to excel at HASs seems to be driving these disorders in a population whose privilege many might imagine would make them immune to such distress.
What drew me to Luthar’s research was the finding that, in addition to experiences with trauma, discrimination, and poverty, the pressure to excel is among the top four risk factors to teens’ mental health. Luthar finds that the rates of clinically significant symptoms of depression and anxiety in students attending HASs are more than five times greater than national norms.
In her rich discussion of contributing factors, Luthar highlights how parents and teachers, whom we might typically think of as buffers for teens’ stress, are extremely stressed themselves and therefore unable to provide the support students may need most. Parents are under mounting pressure to provide their children with enriching experiences and opportunities to shine. Teachers at HASs are burdened with preparing students for their academic futures and caring for their emotional well-being, while also fearing parents’ dissatisfaction with their efforts. Luthar’s concluding recommendations make it clear that addressing this mental health problem for teens will require the active and informed collaboration of both parents and educators.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pamela D. Brown
PAMELA D. BROWN is a licensed psychologist, certified school psychologist, and licensed professional counselor who has worked for the past 15 years as a school psychologist in a private preK-12 school and maintains a private practice in Philadelphia, PA.
