Is a Decline in Independent Play the Major Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Health?
Well now, that is a big statement to make!
Yes, it is but it’s only my rewording of just such a dramatic statement by a group of researchers in February of this year - I seemed to have missed this at the time.
So, if I get this right, the researchers are claiming that decline in independent play is the primary, the key, factor in a decline in mental health: not other factors such as school stress, economic challenges, covid, etc?
Yes, but for the record they did say a cause. I’ve used artistic licence and substituted the major. However, their conclusions are dramatic and they clearly see this is equivalent to a very dangerous and insidious pandemic that is causing multiple issues in society.
This is backed up, as academics do, of course, by reviewing the literature and the evidence is pretty compelling. Based on what I know of brain development and also the positive impacts of play, it makes sense.
However, I still found some of it surprising.
Ok, give me the outline of why this could be the case.
Well, for that we have to go back to early days and my youth even. Though much of what is documented is USA focused (but they have reviewed papers from all over the planet). In the 1970’s when I grew up it was common to walk to school, often substantial distances, from the age of five. Often in groups of children or with older brothers or sisters. I can actually only ever remember walking to school. Of note is that this is still encouraged in Switzerland.
No being driven by parents to and from school then!
Oh no, not at all - children being picked up by parents was a rarity - I remember driving past my old school a few years ago and being shocked at how many cars were waiting to pick children up. This didn’t happen when I grew up. I was almost never driven anywhere.
But how can this impact children’s mental health?
This is part of broader pattern and coincides almost perfectly with this decline in mental health. The authors note:
“Beginning in the 1960s and accelerating in the 1980s, the implicit understanding shifted from that of children as competent, responsible, and resilient to the opposite, as advice focused increasingly on children’s needs for supervision and protection. Rutherford noted, as have other reviewers, that in some respects—such as freedom to choose what they wear or eat—children have gained autonomy over the decades. What has declined specifically is children’s freedom to engage in activities that involve some degree of risk and personal responsibility away from adults.”
So some autonomy has increased but this concept of personal responsibility or risk?
Yes, but understand also how dramatic this shift is in this example of personal mobility:
For example license to walk home alone from school dropped from 86% in 1971 to 35% in 1990 and 25% in 2010; and license to use public buses alone dropped from 48% in 1971 to 15% in 1990 to 12% in 2010. Basically the vast majority of children walked home alone in 1971 to a vast majority not doing so in 2010.
Some countries do stand out as outliers here - I noted that in Switzerland children right from Kindergarten are encouraged to walk to school independently or with friends or siblings. The authors do note that Finland is also a bit of an outlier
Finland stood out as allowing children the greatest freedom of movement. …“At age 7, a majority of Finnish children can already travel to places within walking distance or cycle to places alone; by age 8 a majority can cross main roads, travel home from school and go out after dark alone, by age 9 a majority can cycle on main roads alone, and by age 10 a majority can travel on local buses alone.”
Yes, but this is just getting to and from school isn’t it?
Indeed, but this is a key factor in day to day lives over multiple years - and this influences a sense of independence but also self efficacy i.e. seeing yourself as a self controlled being, rather than one that is reliant on the outside world for help. One aspect of this something called Locus of Control (LOC) i.e. as seeing yourself as being in control vs. being controlled.
This decline in mental health also correlates with a dramatic decline that has been measured in LOC over the years.
But we’re just talking about mobility at the monemnt
Yes, mobility is an important factor because it is a key defining factor in how we engage with the world. But correct, there is much more to it. Specifically also of play and free time. And here we can see another trend which could be worrying:
Between 1950 and 2010, the average length of the school year in the US increased by five weeks. Homework, which was once rare or nonexistent in elementary school, is now common even in kindergarten. One study revealed that the average amount of time that US school children, ages 6-8, spent at school plus school homework increased by 11.4 hours per week between 1981 and 2003, equivalent to adding a day and half to an adult’s work week. Increased school time was often accompanied by decreased recess. By 2014, the average time spent in recess (including any recess associated with the lunch period) for elementary schools was just 26.9 minutes a day, and some schools had no recess at all.
Oh wow, so there is a massive amount of time spent at school - but surely this school time is also useful?
Well, that might be a bad assumption even if it might sound logical. Of note is that Finland which ranks one of the highest in the world in academic achievement at schools has one of the lowest school times in the world!
One of the other reasons, that I have reported on previously, is that play is in fact incredibly cognitive and uses our brains in multiple ways that also might be more reflective of activities in real life: using imagination, social agreement, or disagreement, putting yourself in other shoes, engaging in multiple activitiess with movement, coordination, and so on and so forth - not to mention the concept of risk taking and judging one’s own abilities.
So play should be compulsory!
For sure. But we also need to be careful of what we consider play - there has long been a trend of “educational” games or controlled and supervised play. This might look like a good compromise - use elements of play but make it a bit more focused and control it.
However, observational studies have shown that when children can engage in free play with no supervision, compared to supervised play, they are more engaged, more active, and show more happiness!
Some of this decline, it should be noted, is for other reasons than school - in one study of five-year olds in Switzerland, it was noted that in some neighbourhoods traffic and roads inhibited free play outdoors. Therefore, parents often went to a park with their children. A good thing for sure. However, this inhibited play in many ways, different groups of people, supervision by parents, less activities (e.g. not bringing things from home or spontaneously getting them). So the traffic situation led to more supervised play even in doing positive things such as going to the park.
But is this really the cause, sorry, a major cause, of mental health issues?
Now that is the key question.
The authors note these are correlations only but the correlation is striking. This decrease in mental health of youngster tracks almost perfectly with this decrease in independent free play. Furthermore individual studies into free play confirm these findings, for example, I reported here that adventurous play increases mental resilience in children.
Other factors have been consistent, social unrest is nothing new, we had that in the 1970s also, and the same goes of global crises. These are not new.
Of critical importance though is that LOC, self efficacy, and needs theories such as the very well-researched Self-Determination Theory, and our own SCOAP theory, all point to factors such as autonomy and self direction as being critical to wellbeing, and Carol Dweck also sees this as a critical factor for healthy development of children.
Another supporting line of evidence is in evolutionary theories and observations of preindustrial societies - this tend to show how human beings develop “naturally”. Free, unsupervised, independent play is key feature of growing up in pre industrial societies.
So, in short, there are multiple lines of evidence, each with large bodies of research, to support this.
Ok, so there is a bunch of evidence, but what can we do?
This is problematic because some of this is dependent on society and government policies. But there is also more parents can do - encourage free and unsupervised play, promote independence such as in getting to school and don’t be so protective of children.
It may be easy to fall into the trap of pushing academic exercises or supervised skills such as learning languages or musical instruments (all in themselves good) but allow and enable real free time also.
I suspect some group activities such as with the Scouts is also beneficial - these encourage young people to be independent and organise themselves such as in camps - my experience with that was also positive - the same applies for my daughter.
In short let your kids play, just play, without you sticking your pesky nose in all the time!
Isn’t that something that us adults could also do with, more play?
Probably - play has also been shown to boost learning and reduce stress in adults!
And I have also reported that all work and no play really does make Jack a dull, stressed, and ineffective boy.
Reference
Peter Gray, David F Lancy, David F Bjorklund
Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children's Mental Well-being: Summary of the Evidence
The Journal of Pediatrics, 2023, DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.02.004
My Previous Posts
Take Note Grown Ups ! Play Increases Learning and Reduces Stress…in Adults
Adventurous Play Boosts Mental Resilience in Kids
All Work And No Play…Increases Stress and Decreases Happiness
All Work And No Play, Really Does Make Jack A Dull (and Ineffective) Boy