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Some Of The Most At-Risk Teens Are Affluent

Jullen Jeanneau/cc

Poor little rich kids? Maybe so. Psychologist Suniya Luthar's research shows that very affluent teens suffer from the same degree of troubling mental and behavioral health problems as very low-income kids, as The Atlantic reports. She studied kids whose families earn more than $200,000 and compared their mental health to that of their low-income peers.

"Her research suggests a U‑shaped curve in pathologies among children, by class....The rich middle- and high-school kids Luthar and her collaborators have studied show higher rates of alcohol and drug abuse on average than poor kids, and much higher rates than the national norm. They report clinically significant depression or anxiety or delinquent behaviors at a rate two to three times the national average. Starting in seventh grade, the rich cohort includes just as many kids who display troubling levels of delinquency as the poor cohort..."

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