Jan 12 2009
Asking Teachers to be Therapists
Can the risk for teenage depression be complimented away? If exposed to suitable quantity and quality of “good boy, Johnny,” will Johnny never get blue? I tend to doubt it. Sure, for a few on the fence of predisposition, positive reinforcement may keep them from falling. That is why I am skeptical of “the finding” of this psychological study: Recognizing Children’s Successes In All Areas May Prevent Teenage Depression.
“We found that students in the first grade who struggled academically with core subjects, including reading and math, later displayed negative self-perceptions and symptoms of depression in sixth and seventh grade, respectively,” said Keith Herman, associate professor of education, school and counseling psychology in the MU College of Education.
Here’s the part that struck me as a leap:
Herman suggests that because differences in children’s learning will continue to exist even if all students are given effective instruction and support, parents and teachers should acknowledge student’s skills in other areas.
“Nice aim with the spit ball Johnny! See, you can succeed!”
Sorry, I couldn’t resist that bit of sarcasm. Still, there are a number of questions that arise. Okay, there is a predictive link between poor school performance and later depression. But how did they get from there to a link between teachers not acknowledging skills in academics to depression? And how did they get from there to teachers and parents recognizing other skills as a prophylactic measure? Maybe in the full paper I’d read about all the links fully fleshed out, but from what I know of the field (one of the courses I teach is developmental psychology), I tend to doubt it.
Mind you, I do believe that children are sensitive to and influenced by signs of acceptance and inclusion. We are social animals. In the early years, parents and parent-like figures no doubt have the greatest impact. But well before entering puberty, children become peer-focused. And during the teenage years — extremely so. Rates of depression increase dramatically during the teenage years. My guess is that adult attention and warm-fuzzies may help some children. But for many others the greater influence is peers.
Whether or not teachers can predictably influence a child’s mental health down the road, there is the all-important question of whether we should even be asking them to take on that responsibility.
“Yes, Mrs. Crabtree, I want Johnny to learn math. And I want you to help minimize his risk for depression while you’re at it. Thanks.”
Hmm.
Hi Andrew, Good questions. The point of the article was is no way to suggest teachers should be therapists. Instead, the findings, along with other studies, show that experiences in school have a huge effect on how children develop, and in this case, yes, it does appear that children’s academic skills at school entry are a risk factor for future depression. Given that depression is one are the most burdensome mental disorders throughout the world (according the World Health Organization as others), it is important to identify factors that place kids at risk so that we can develop effective prevention programs. One key implication of this study is that one way to reduce risk for depression is to teach kids to read and calculate–so teachers should teach. At the same time, the relationship between these variables was linear; there was not a threshold above which kids were immune to low self-perceptions. Since there will be individual differences, these findings imply that other methods will be needed to address the impact of social comparisons on children’s emerging sense of self.
Thanks for commenting, Keith. And for the additional information.
How is asking teachers to be sensitive to the emotional and social consequences of how they teach equivalent to requiring them to be therapists? How is it mystifying to think that offering some kind of acknowledgement or praise of a student’s good qualities, aside from spitwad shooting, might be beneficial?
According to a recent study, teenagers prone to wreckless and dangerous behavior have a pessimistic, even fatalistic attitude. Could this be due in part to feeling weak and ineffectual in living their own lives? And could that be due to some degree to early failures in the educational system?
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/Americas/2009/July/Pessimism-Drives-Reckless-Behavior-Among-Teens.html