The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids

In recent years, numerous studies have shown that bright, charming, seemingly confident and socially skilled teenagers from affluent, loving families are experiencing epidemic rates of depression, substance abuse, and anxiety disorders—rates higher than in any other socioeconomic group of American adolescents. Materialism, pressure to achieve, perfectionism, and disconnection are combining to create a perfect storm that is devastating children of privilege and their parents alike.

Madeline Levine, PhD, is a psychologist, consultant, and educator; the author of the New York Times bestsellers Teach Your Children Well and The Price of Privilege; and a cofounder of Challenge Success, a project of the Stanford School of Education that addresses education reform, student well-being, and parent education. She is also a consultant to BDT & Company, a merchant bank that advises and invests in founder- and family-led companies. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and is the proud mother of three adult sons and a newly minted granddaughter.