“THE EARLY YEARS - Youth Investment”
The Social Capital Campaign today publishes its latest publication on social capital and youth investment.
As we look at the state of America’s youth, the landscape is concerning.
Half of adolescents in America have had a mental health disorder at some point in their lives.
Anxiety and depression increased by 63 percent among 18-30 year-olds between 2005 and 2017.
15 percent of high school students have used illicit or injection drugs like heroin.
The number of homicides committed by children under 14 in 2020 was the highest in twenty years.
1 in 3 teenagers in the U.S. is a victim of teen dating violence.
As we’ve published our research over the last 13 months, the early years have recurred as an urgent need of focus to rebuild social capital in America.
Attachment theory shows that a child needs predictable, abundant, attuned care from her biological mother to develop secure attachment: a foundational system of relating patterns that inform all relationships thereafter. Secure-attachment is associated with better grades, health, mental health outcomes, and higher quality of relationship. Better stress-management (self-soothing) and self-regulation that leaves individuals less prone to addiction, self-destructive or risky behavior around sex, drugs, and alcohol.
Yet the United States is a unique outlier, one of the more hostile rich countries when it comes to creating the conditions for such bonding to take place: reporting the highest maternal mortality rates, particularly for women of color, and no national paid maternity leave.
The average total paid leave available to mothers in the European Union is 64.6 weeks, and the OECD 50.8 weeks. The United States offers 12 weeks of unpaid leave nationally–though not for those working in small firms (fewer than 50 local employees). Perhaps this is why America 1 in 4 moms return to work 2 weeks after giving birth.
An inconvenient truth is that non-maternal care is associated with at-risk levels of behavioral problems that reach across childhood, adolescence, and into young adulthood.
In this report we consider the challenges facing our youth, the international studies that show the positive impact of secure-attachment on life outcomes, and the negative consequences of non-maternal care. We consider solutions that are voluntary, outside of the power of the federal government, as well as federal policy solutions that could help make secure-attachment available for all.
“The Early Years - Youth Investment”
Chris Bullivant
June 2023
Building social capital starts with 0-3s, and that first attachment with mom.
Chris Bullivant is the director of the Social Capital Campaign. Previously he helped to establish the London-based online commentary magazine UnHerd and two think tanks: U.K. 2020 focused on improving environmental policy and global food security, and the Centre for Social Justice which developed a welfare policy platform implemented by the then incoming Prime Minister. His commentary has been published in USA Today, The Washington Examiner, The American Conservative and UnHerd.
