As the author of Your Children are Under Attack, I’m no fan of popular culture. Its aim is not to support healthy development of young people, but rather to profit from selling kids junk and attitudes wrapped in “it’ll make you happy” vibes.

Well, recent research from the UK provides painful support for my views. The study had several unsettling findings:

• Although friendly and helpful children were ultimately more popular over time, young people mistakenly predicted that the route to being liked was in having a reputation for disruptive behavior, having ‘cool’ stuff and looking good.
• Depressive symptoms in boys tends to predict increases in their materialism, whereas depressive symptoms in girls tends to predict the internalization of appearance concerns.
• Consumer culture may be perceived as a coping mechanism by vulnerable children, but it is one that is detrimental to their well-being.

The bottom line is that kids are being led to believe what will make them happy and popular and mentally healthy is actually doing just the opposite.

The bigger bottom line is that it’s up to parents to ensure that they help their children resist rather than embrace these harmful messages.