Affluence and Psychological Distress Among Adolescents
Ours is the most affluent society in the history of the world, and yet wealth does not protect children from being at risk. Everyone knows someone whose child has seriously faltered, who has fallen into addiction, depression, or a more amorphous sort of “failure to thrive.” Current research shows that affluence itself is a risk factor in adolescent development — not just having money, but how having money can distort values, parenting practices and interpersonal relationships (Levine, 2006).
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