A question arises: are children from rich families, who have access to various facilities, financial resources and unlimited opportunities, happier than children from ordinary families?
Madeline Levine, PhD, a psychologist and educator at the Stanford School of Education, conducted research on teenagers from well-off families who attended prestigious schools.
Her research findings, documented in her book ‘The Price of Privilege’ (2006), revealed surprising results. Even though these children often achieved high test scores, they were found to face problems such as depression, anxiety disorders, psychosomatic disorders, and even higher rates of substance dependence compared to children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
Another revelation was that even though these children had numerous certificates and medals displayed at home, they did not lead happy lives. Furthermore, despite receiving offers from prestigious schools, his passion for learning seemed to have died out.
Through ‘The Price of Privilege,’ Levine aims to encourage parents to reevaluate the meaning of success for a child, focusing on the commonly used measure of success: grades and achievements.
Levine observed a correlation between this measure and the high emotional problems faced by young people. Many children, in search of good grades, resorted to taking stimulants to overcome fatigue and study continuously, cheating to maintain high grades, and engaging in self-destructive behaviors when faced with pressure. They made chasing achievements seem like a matter of life and death.
Unexpectedly, ‘The Price of Privilege’ had a broader impact than originally anticipated. Problems similar as stress, depression, fatigue, anxiety and poor tone- image came current among the maturity of children, anyhow of their socioeconomic background.
seminaries, which should be places where children learn, are inspired and discover their strengths, have now come the biggest source of stress in their lives.