Psychology Says ’60s and ’70s Kids Didn’t Become Emotionally Strong From Better Parenting. They Learned to Self-Regulate Through Daily Neglect

By Evelyn Hart – Indian Defence Review

A generation praised for toughness may have been shaped by something far less comforting: the everyday absence adults rarely admit mattered.

They were the kids who walked to school alone, settled their own playground disputes, and heard “be back by dinner” as the only rule. That kind of childhood has largely vanished, replaced by a world where parents can track their children’s location down to the driveway. Now a comprehensive meta-analysis published in Development and Psychopathology has put hard numbers behind what many have suspected: when parents hover too closely, their children’s mental health may pay a price.