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> Both parents are hotshot career-focused individuals. It begs the question if the kids ever had time to just be kids. Yeah I’m gonna doubt that. Not that dual

> Both parents are hotshot career-focused individuals. It begs the question if the kids ever had time to just be kids. Yeah I’m gonna doubt that. Not that dual career households don’t have their own difficulties but that’s nothing compared to the effects of poverty. The article mentions a huge effect size of being black. I would guess wealthy families have drastically lower rates of child suicide.

cflewis 5y ago
Honestly I just think we all think kids should have easier lives, but they are never going to get that idealized version, be it poverty, war, issues with the family, racism... the list goes on and on. We can only try to do the best with the tools we have, but the candy-coated life we think kids should have I doubt ever really existed. Maybe in the nuclear family 1950s. If you were white, at least.
travisathougies 5y ago
I would imagine there's a U shaped curve. If you have too little and can't feed yourself / meet basic needs, I imagine suicide is a problem. If you have too much and can't spend time with your kids because you're working too much (mom being a hot shot lawyer and dad being a hotshot financier is not a 'normal' situation), then I imagine it's also a problem. Both money and family time are necessary for kids to thrive. If you have one and not the other, it's going to be a problem.
- oneoff786 5y ago
  It’s not a “normal” situation but it’s going to be better than many. It may even be better than normal if normal is the median. All we hear about the parent’s work lives is > Trevor’s mother, Angela Matthews, a driven intellectual-property lawyer in her early forties, studied ballet and still carries herself like a dancer. Her intelligence and the intensity of her character can make her intimidating, but she is also given to acts of tremendous kindness. Trevor’s father, Billy Matthews, who works in finance, is affable and athletic. They have a daughter, Agnes, three and a half years younger than Trevor; Billy also has two sons, Trey and Tristen, from a previous marriage. To extrapolate from this that they are over consumed with work and failed to parent their child seems like an extreme and frankly offensive claim. The term “hot shot” is never used and even if it had been, says nothing about their availability as a parent. You can be a hot shot at your career and still be available. The problem for this child is, unquestionably, that he was the victim of a sexual predator at a camp. The prevalence of these super career oriented, damagingly absent parents is for sure much rarer than implied. And probably not even a strong predictor of being neglectful parents
jeffbee 5y ago
Honestly wondering about the size of the effect of being black. It seems like a very particular data point to select. Strictly true for that 5-12 age group, but when expanded to everyone under 18, Black is the race with the lowest rate of suicides. White is 50% higher, American Indian is 200% higher, Asian/PI is slightly higher, according to CDC WISQARS.

cflewis 5y ago

Honestly I just think we all think kids should have easier lives, but they are never going to get that idealized version, be it poverty, war, issues with the family, racism... the list goes on and on. We can only try to do the best with the tools we have, but the candy-coated life we think kids should have I doubt ever really existed. Maybe in the nuclear family 1950s. If you were white, at least.

travisathougies 5y ago

I would imagine there's a U shaped curve. If you have too little and can't feed yourself / meet basic needs, I imagine suicide is a problem. If you have too much and can't spend time with your kids because you're working too much (mom being a hot shot lawyer and dad being a hotshot financier is not a 'normal' situation), then I imagine it's also a problem. Both money and family time are necessary for kids to thrive. If you have one and not the other, it's going to be a problem.

oneoff786 5y ago
It’s not a “normal” situation but it’s going to be better than many. It may even be better than normal if normal is the median. All we hear about the parent’s work lives is > Trevor’s mother, Angela Matthews, a driven intellectual-property lawyer in her early forties, studied ballet and still carries herself like a dancer. Her intelligence and the intensity of her character can make her intimidating, but she is also given to acts of tremendous kindness. Trevor’s father, Billy Matthews, who works in finance, is affable and athletic. They have a daughter, Agnes, three and a half years younger than Trevor; Billy also has two sons, Trey and Tristen, from a previous marriage. To extrapolate from this that they are over consumed with work and failed to parent their child seems like an extreme and frankly offensive claim. The term “hot shot” is never used and even if it had been, says nothing about their availability as a parent. You can be a hot shot at your career and still be available. The problem for this child is, unquestionably, that he was the victim of a sexual predator at a camp. The prevalence of these super career oriented, damagingly absent parents is for sure much rarer than implied. And probably not even a strong predictor of being neglectful parents

jeffbee 5y ago

Honestly wondering about the size of the effect of being black. It seems like a very particular data point to select. Strictly true for that 5-12 age group, but when expanded to everyone under 18, Black is the race with the lowest rate of suicides. White is 50% higher, American Indian is 200% higher, Asian/PI is slightly higher, according to CDC WISQARS.