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Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men
By Leonard Sax.
267 pp, $25.
New York, NY, Basic Books, 2007.
ISBN-13 978-0-4650-7209-5.
JAMA. 2007;298(22):2684-2685.
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Concern about ne’er do well sons is ancient. In a quote attributed to Socrates by Plato, Socrates laments, "The children now live in luxury . . . and love chatter instead of exercise." Leonard Sax, a family physician and research psychologist, continues this tradition in Boys Adrift, arguing that there is a growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men. Five factors are identified to account for this proposed decline: (1) feminization of education; (2) video games; (3) increased prescription of psychotropic medications that affect the motivational systems of the brain; (4) exposure to endocrine disrupters; and (5) lack of heroic role models.
Excellent and informative references and information are provided, particularly about the impact of the first-person shooter games such as Grand Theft Auto and the strong correlation between the amount of time spent playing these games and the frequency of acts of violence and aggression.
The impact of educational changes . . . [Full Text of this Article]
Maureen E. Lyon, PhD, Reviewer
Center for Cancer and Immunology Research
Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine
Children's National Medical Center
George Washington University School of Medicine
Washington, DC
mlyon@cnmc.org
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