In some ways, adolescents in the U.S. are safer today than their parents and grandparents at the same ages.

They are less likely to face the unintended consequences of sex because they're waiting longer

to start, and they're doing a lot less binge drinking and drunk driving than previous generations.

If their parents suggest they just stay home and out of harm's way, they're less likely to

argue or to agree and then sneak out once the grownups are asleep.

That's all good news.

The bad news, as a group, they are far more likely

than their predecessors to experience mental health problems severe enough to land them in the

emergency room anyway. From KERA in Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd. Something has fundamentally

changed about this transition phase between childhood and adulthood.

My guest, who is raising two children, headed for this phase of life themselves, wanted to understand why.

And he discovered that for all our valid concerns about social media, that is really just the tip of the iceberg.

Matt Richtel is a Pulitzer Prize-winning health and science reporter for

the New York Times and author of the new book, How We Grow Up, Understanding Adolescence.

Matt, welcome back to think. Thanks for having me, Chris. It's good to be back.

This investigation started in 2020 when your editors assigned you to look into the adolescent mental health crisis.

What can you tell us about the shape of that crisis?

Like, is adolescence mental health definitely worse in recent years, or are we just better at identifying

and naming the problem?

Can I answer yes to both?

Uh-huh.

Which is one of the many complicated answers we're going to have today on this show because we are learning a ton about adolescence in a way we haven't before.

...