People who grew up in the 60s have one rare trait: psychologists explain

 

According to experts, it was the upbringing of that time that built a specific type of resilience - one that is gradually disappearing in the modern world.

The generation that grew up in the 1960s is not just more resilient. It carries with it an inner stability formed in an era when emotional comfort was not perceived as a basic right. This is what Silicon Canals writes about .

The environment back then was radically different. Feelings were hardly talked about, no one analyzed their inner experiences. Instead, children heard: "stop crying, wipe your snot and get better yourself."

Author Christian Kelly, citing psychological research, emphasizes that it is this model of upbringing that has created a particular form of resilience that is increasingly rare today.

He clarifies that this is not about idealizing the past. The emotional distance and silence back then caused a lot of damage. However, he says, psychologists' observations of the disappearance of this resilience reveal important truths for modern society.

The children solved their problems on their own.

Kelly gives a personal example: in his father's family, feelings were not discussed during dinner. The conversations revolved around politics, work, and justice. The children were left to deal with their difficulties on their own. If a conflict arose, the parents did not intervene and did not seek out the other parents.

Psychologist Peter Gray notes that in recent decades, children's freedom to play and explore without supervision has gradually diminished.

At the same time, anxiety, depression, and even suicide among young people have increased.

Gray explains that when children play freely, without constant adult intervention, they learn to self-regulate their behavior, get along with others, and resolve conflicts. But if adults constantly interfere, these skills are not built.

As a result, the first more serious emotional difficulties do not appear in childhood, but only around the age of 18 - when it is much more difficult for a person to learn how to deal with them.

“I think about my father’s generation and how they navigated hardship: job losses, health problems, the decline of entire industries. They weren’t callous. But they had an inner strength built up from years of small challenges they had overcome on their own,” writes Christian Kelly.

People in their 60s are in control of their own lives

Gray cites research that shows how people's sense of control over their lives has changed.

In the 1960s, most people believed that they were in control of their own destiny and could influence what happened to them. However, over time, this feeling has waned.

By 2002, many more young people began to think that their lives depended on external factors – circumstances, luck, or other people.

It even turns out that the average young person in 2002 felt more powerless than 80% of young people in the 1960s. And this goes hand in hand with the increase in anxiety and depression.

"In other words, people who grew up in the 1960s were not just 'mentally healthier', but also perceived their own ability to influence their lives differently. And this, according to research, is one of the strongest protective factors for mental health ," the author emphasizes.

The price of convenience

However, the article clearly notes: this is not a call for a return to the strict upbringing of the past.

While it created resilience, it also created a generation that found it difficult to express their feelings because mental health was a taboo subject. The truth is that there were both right and wrong practices back then.

Kelly raises an important question: have we gone too far today in our attempt to eliminate all hardship?

Gray adds that when we protect children from every obstacle, we are actually teaching them that they cannot cope on their own.

Psychologists are not saying to go back to the upbringing of the 1960s. They are emphasizing something else – today we make life too easy, especially for children. We eliminate difficulties and inconveniences.

It is these small difficulties and challenges that build inner strength and resilience.