Family Dysfunction Contributing to Youth Mental Health Crisis

To the Editor: 
Much has been spoken about and written about the mental health crisis facing so many of our country’s young people. Mental health experts are searching for the causes behind this crisis.
I have been working with young people since 1958 as a private tutor and education advisor. What I’m seeing in so many of my students is the large percentage coming from households where divorce, separation, and marital discord have been their troubled background.
Nothing can be more problematic for the successful rearing of a child than experiencing dysfunction within his or her family. I can’t imagine how they can function well in school, with their friends, and within themselves, if they must live in a household that fails to offer safety, security, and comfort.
Of course, many must turn to friends, relatives, or grandparents for emotional support and guidance, but nothing beats an intact family when it comes to helping young people find their individual ways in these times so plagued with uncertainty, doubt, and threats.
I can’t see any possibility that this crisis will soon abate if the assaults on something so basic as family continue with such frequency. A wholesome family life experience will often provide the needed strength to better handle things that threaten one’s emotional state of being.