Childhood Deficit Disorder and the Atrophy of American Childhood

Dr. O'Leary proposes Childhood Deficit Disorder as a way to conceptualize the rise in mental health issues among modern youth, exploring how systemic changes in culture and environment contribute. He contrasts the "free-range" parenting style prior to the 1980s, which fostered autonomy and resilience, with the modern trend of intensive, managerial parenting driven by economic anxiety and a "culture of fear" fueled by media. Dr. O'Leary explores how children's independent mobility has plummeted due to these shifts and in response to a built environment hostile to pedestrians, leading to a loss of key socialization spaces. Digital media, including social media, both actively displaced healthy social spaces and filled the void created by anxious, fearful parenting, and poor urban design. Childhood Deficit Disorder (CDD) is a framework—not a clinical diagnosis—to describe the developmental consequences of chronic deprivation of autonomous play, independent movement, and connection to the physical world, often exacerbated by the "digital colonization of childhood."

For a more in depth discussion: https://sciencebasedpsych.blogspot.com/2025/12/childhood-deficit-disorder-and-atrophy.html

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