Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young Men Paperback – January 6, 2009

Boys Adrift provided evidence-based data on why boys today lack motivation and disengage from the world. The author of Boys Adrift, Dr. Leonard Sax is a Family Practice Physician in Washington, D.C. Through his practice, he cared for hundreds of families with girls who were smart and driven and had boys who were laid back and unmotivated. He found that this phenomenon is spread across all races and socioeconomic classes. He spent seven years researching the following three questions: (1) “Why does one man succeed, while another man from the same neighborhood- or even the same household- drifts along unconcerned?” (p.9); (2) “Where is he headed?;” and (3) “Is there anything you can do about it?” (p.10). Dr. Sax’s research found that the following five factors attribute to our society of underachieving, disengaged boys: (1) changes at school; (2) video games; (3) medications for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); (4) endocrine disruptors; and (5) the revenge of the forsaken gods. As part of my requirements for my PH 2998- Seminar in Child and Adolescent Health course at UT School of Public Health, San Antonio Regional Campus, with Dr. Steve Kelder, I will briefly summarize Dr. Sax’s main points, what I found interesting about this book, how the book relates to child and adolescent health, and advice for parents and child health advocates. Dr. Sax links how current school curriculums and structure have discouraged boys and promote apathy towards school and learning at a very young age. Kindergarten curriculum was once centered on activities like “finger painting and duck-duck-goose,” but now focuses on purely academic instruction such as reading and writing. He added that the problem with this change is that most five-year-old boys are not ready to sit down all day. He reported that the language areas in a boy’s brain at age five are similar to a three and a half year-old girl. This difference in language often results in classrooms being divided into those who are ready to learn and those who are not (the “dumb” group). Dr. Sax wrote that boys being placed in the “dumb” group can develop a lifelong disenchantment with formal education. Dr. Sax recommends delaying school until age six. Another recommendation Dr. Sax provided was incorporating competition into the school environment. He stated that boys enjoy competing against each other and it is a good way to motivate them to do better in school. Dr. Sax examined the potential relationship between video games and boys disengaging from school. He stated that the average boy spends more than 13 hours each week playing video games. Video games provide these boys an outlet to gain power and control over the games they play. Dr. Sax challenged others ideas that video games make you smarter, concluding that video games do not prepare our boys for the real world and that American boys’ IQs have been on a steady decrease over the past 30 years. Dr. Sax attributed ADHD stimulant drug use to loss of drive and apathy in adulthood. He stated that ADHD has been around for hundreds of years but over the past 20 years, ADHD prescription medications have increased dramatically. He attributed this rise in prescriptions to two main factors. The first factor is that our culture has shifted from “individual responsibility toward third-party explanations” (p. 85). He added that 30 years ago a disobedient child would be a “brat” in need of a good spanking. In today’s society, the boy may be diagnosed with a “conduct disorder” causing a shift in blame from the boy (or result of parenting) to the disorder. The second factor is the change to the elementary curriculum. If young boys aren’t ready to sit still in a chair for six hours each day, educators and parents often turn to medications. Dr. Sax wrote that ADHD medications have been shown to damage the nucleus accumbens which is the part of the brain that translate motivation into action. Dr. Sax hypothesized that endocrine disruptors, specifically bisphenol A (BPA) or phthalates, have led to an increase in ADHD, obesity, and easily broken bones among boys. He stated that if boys are introduced to these chemicals early in life it can blunt or eliminate sex differences in behavior, as well as cause problems with memory and motivation. In Dr. Sax’s final factor “the revenge of the forsaken gods,” he identified in leading to a generation of unmotivated, disengaged boys and men. Boys need strong male remodels to emulate and look-up to. Dr. Sax stressing that gender does matter because “boys and girls differ with respect to risk factors for social pathology” (p. 178). Dr. Sax’s offers excellent advice to parents, teachers and educators in the final of chapter of the book “Detox.” One of my favorite recommendations is that we should restore kindergarten as kindergarten. Also, children need to learn about things like “frogs and tadpoles” from actually playing with them, not just looking at them on a computer monitor. To address the video game problem, Dr. Sax recommended getting boys out doing the real thing; don’t play basketball on a screen play it outside. He also urged concerned parents to have their children formally assessed for ADHD by a non-biased qualified health professional and then decide if medications are necessary. Dr. Sax instructed parents to stay informed on endocrine disruptors. To address the revenge of the forsaken gods factor, Dr. Sax stated that boys need healthy male role-models, often do best in single gender schools, and bonds need to be restored between generations. As a mother of a three-year-old boy, this book was eye-opening, causing me to change my way of thinking and my approach to raising my son. Prior to reading Boys Adrift, I was concerned that my son will miss the cut-off for kindergarten by two months. Now, I am excited because he will be almost six when he starts kindergarten and it will probably be the best thing for him. Also, I had never considered single gender education for my children but Dr. Sax presented a lot of good information on the benefits of a single gender curriculum, especially for boys. One example is that boys don’t have to “wear a mask” and can be themselves without having to worry about impressing girls. The boys in these schools are provided education in a boy-friendly environment, encouraging brotherhoods, and friendly competition leading to more motivated, successful boys. Also, my husband has ADHD and this book has made me more aware of the potential dangers of starting young children/boys on ADHD medications and the importance of a formal evaluation. If my son begins to exhibit ADHD behaviors, I will be more reserved in considering medications. I am not completely sold on the endocrine disruptors factor, however, I would like to conduct further research in this area. I am actually more concerned about some of the potential negative effects on girls based on Dr. Sax’s presented literature. This book was directly related to child and adolescent health, specifically in boys for all of the reasons I have already discussed. Dr. Sax provided easy to read recommendations for teachers, parents, and child health advocates. I recommend that any parents with boys, teachers, and health care providers dealing with pediatrics and adolescents read this book and take some of Dr. Sax’s insights into consideration. I am very pleased with this book and will read it again.

Why this book?This book is recommended in my course: PH 2998 - Seminar in Child and Adolescent Health at UT School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus, with Dr. Steve Kelder. I am not a parent and I have no son, yet I know nice and smart young men of my age who drop out from college, stay at home all day, sluggish and doing nothing but video games. I was hoping that this book can give me justification about this phenomenon, and what I learned from this book is above my expectation!The authorDr. Sax is a MD, psychologist, and a practicing family physician. For almost 20 years, he has been seeing patients and observing emerging problems among boys, girls, young men and women. He is also a very popular Washington Post Op-ed writer, and he gives talks and leads public events throughout North America and around the world.Content summaryThe book title well summarizes its content.First Factor: School. The difference of brain development between boys and girls has long been recognized, even before the technology of brain imaging. It is just very strange that why our education system is not making corresponding changes. It makes me reflect on my own story: in the early 1990s, my parents sent me to elementary school 2 years ahead of time, because they believe that a girl’s mental and psychological development is about 2 years ahead of a boy’s. I felt perfectly comfortable with those boys who are a little older than me. And I remember most of the boys behave more “gentleman” to me, than towards girls of the same age with them.Second Factor: video game. Video games give boys a wrong perception that they are in charge of the world. Therefore, we should limit the video game time and provide them healthy competition in the real world instead.Third Factor: ADHD medicines. I know nothing about this topic. I feel that this factor, compared to the other four, is completely avoidable, and easiest to make a change. The change can be made jointly by teachers, parents and doctors: first, teachers should think twice upon defining a child as ADHD, and second, medication should never be the first choice when treating ADHD. Dr. Sax mentioned in his book that China has lower rate of ADHD than the US. I guess it is not because we Chinese children are more silent and obedient, but because parents always try to insist that it is not their child’s problem, and are extremely reluctant to accept that their child has ADHD, therefore, fewer kids get diagnosed.Fourth Factor: endocrine disruptors, namely, increasing exposure to plastics. This is something that I have always concerned about, and it can be avoided by relatively simple behavior change: no bottled water, no soda, no plastic container in microwave, etc.Fifth Factor: cultural influence and lack of role model. I am very impressed about how an appropriate role model is necessary for a boy, and that becoming a man is not equal to becoming a gentleman. Then I realized that for girls, it is a similar case. However, it is true that more often than not, a morbid character would look more attractive and “cooler” to a teenager than those healthy main stream role models. It is easier to understand considering that for teenagers, emotions are more dominant than cognition in decision making.HighlightsPlenty of vivid examples make the book fun and easy to read. Anecdotes and real patient cases interspersed through the book. As a single woman, I can especially relate myself to the email questions in Chapter 6 “Failure to Launch”. For example, if finding a partner means doing extra house work and having lower life expectations, then why bother? I hope Dr. Sax could write more feedbacks to these problems, instead of just posting the original email.Dr. Sax provides practical advice that parents can follow and make a difference. Although some of them, such as picking a good school for the kids, are hard to achieve for some families, parents can always start with restricting video games, avoiding plastic bottles, and most importantly, coalesce with other parents to advocate for better school environment and positive policy change.Dr. Sax gives us informative references as his evidences, which is another asset of this book. It covers from scientific articles to mass media reports, making this book not only conveys practical message to the public, but also helpful for researchers who want to investigate further.ConclusionOverall, this book is eye-opening and very well written. It offers well-reasoned evidence, and may change a boy’s future. I would recommend this book to parents, teachers, and anyone who concerns about child and adolescent development. However, I am still skeptical about single-gender education. I ask myself a question: “would I prefer sending my child to a single-gender school or a co-ed?” I cannot answer it. And I feel it necessary to read Dr. Sax’s other two books “Why Gender Matters” and “Girls on the Edge” to have a comprehensive and unbiased vision about how boys and girls should be nurtured differently.

An eye opener for parents of boys.

"you must be aware of everything your son is doing with every device he or she uses. All the time."And he's talking about boys of the age up to 18!Like I don't see this helping to create some independence in and trust of your son.

Explica baseado em vários estudos a necessidade de haver um modelo masculino a ser copiado pela criança bem como a necessidade de haver um ambiente com algum tipo de competição saudável como forma de fazer a criança crescer e tornar se capaz de ser adulto responsável.

This is a great book for any parent of boys. The book is filled with research results, relevant anecdotes and practical guidelines and tips for parents.It's an easy read, not convoluted with technical jargons. The sooner you read it the better. As a parent, don't wait till your boy gets (mis)diagnosed with ADHD or loses all interest in life to educate yourself.

As a medical doctor myself , but in the UK, I am testament to the emerging trends that Dr Sax has described in his book, and then researched, to understand the phenomenon that is happening with our young boys and men today. His research which has taken place across a number of countries in the developed world has been thoroughly done and presented in a balanced way. I would definitely recommend this book to any parent or adult who wants to begin to understand why our societies are at crisis point regarding the upbringing of our children and youth. I practise in a white relatively middle class suburban area close to London and there is a definite crisis with boys having no little to no ambitions/ unrealistic ambitions which centre around making money very quickly to an almost absence of admiration for any job that would require hard work eg a career in medicine and emerging problems with alcohol, drugs and depression. We can continue in denial that any of these things are a problem for us and that it's OK to leave our boys with increasingly violent video games that undeniably affect their mental health ( amongst other things that are affecting boys) - Sax puts this in balanced perspective and begs the question - for how long societies can continue like this... The solutions he offers on how to tackle these problems are practical and that we would have to get together in our communities to support our youth. Let us act now to ( try !) and save our sons - we can do it to some extent if we work together. This book is a proof of what's going on and a wake up call. PS Regarding other reviews - you may disagree with some of his opinions but you can't deny they are evidence based. Also when he may state some anecdotal opinion rather than fact he makes that clear also.