Our group, has found high rates of serious disturbance – anxiety, depression, substance abuse or delinquency – in every HAS we have studied, including day schools and boarding schools, and public and private schools. These rates can be two to three times the national averages, and in some cases, six times as high and even greater. Other developmental researchers have shown that in large national data sets, serious problems in children’s mental health tend to be the highest in schools at the lowest and highest levels of community affluence, with those in the middle income range faring the best.
It’s not surprising to find high levels of stress amid poverty, given challenges related to physical and emotional survival and its consequent ill effects on mental health. But it’s unsettling to find that a notion of “survival of the fittest” is leading to similar symptoms in high-achieving settings, where anxiety about being (or remaining) among the small group of the “very best among the best” can lead, essentially, to a state of hypervigilance.
Children’s mental health problems observed as early as 7
Most of the HAS samples we have studied are from high schools, or grades 9-12 in the US, but we have documented high distress levels among younger children as well, starting around 6th and 7th grade (ages 12–13). Anecdotally, many of our school collaborators routinely report seeing high levels of stress among HAS children when they are as young as 7 or 8.
“Major policy reports now list students at high-achieving schools as an at-risk group, alongside children in poverty, those experiencing trauma, and those in foster care or with incarcerated parents.
In our early interpretations of these findings, we speculated that suburban youth might have experienced some degree of isolation from parents (who often had demanding jobs), and also, perhaps, lack of after-school supervision (as communities generally seemed to be safe). It has taken me over 20 years of research, and dozens of conversations with adults and students across the country, to see clearly that this is a systemic issue. There are serious stressors coming from all levels of influence in HAS students’ lives – not just from families but also peers, schools, and universities.
Stressors on children’s mental health
Consider just the stressors coming from peers. Adolescence is a time when children are supposed to form close relationships with their peers. But how does one get truly close to, and trusting of, peers with whom one is in direct competition for being the star or “standout”?
Teachers in HASs are expected to maintain high test scores, and naturally, these expectations filter down to their students, resulting in gruelling workloads and hours of homework. Coaches want to win prestigious sports competitions, again resulting in long hours of practice among student athletes plus, of course, high pressure during their games.
And as I’ve said, the admissions criteria of selective colleges are a major root cause. There is little hope of getting into a well-reputed college unless a child has stellar accolades across multiple academic and extracurricular domains (and often, even these aren’t enough, given the growing number of accomplished applicants).
The problem is not confined to the Kolkata. When I present our findings on these schools to international audiences, they acknowledge that a constant battle to succeed in high-achieving environments is taking a toll on their children’s mental health as well.