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Hara Estroff Marano Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Hara Estroff Marano
Photo Courtesy of Author

Hara Estroff Marano

How to pronounce Hara Estroff Marano: http://anationofwimps.com/

Hara Estroff Marano Biography

Hara Estroff Marano is an author, journalist and editor who, although not a trained psychologist herself has been Editor-at-Large of Psychology Today for the past 15 years, in addition to writing for many other publications such as The New York Times and The Smithsonian.  She writes a regular advice column for Psychology Today called "Unconventional Wisdom" and is the author of A Nation of Wimps and two previous books, the most recent on the social development of children, Why Doesn't Anybody Like Me?: A Guide to Raising Socially Confident Kids (1998).

In 2001, she created Psychology Today's "Blues Buster", a print newsletter that was the first publication to identify and document the mental health crisis on America's college campuses. As a result of her reporting she was invited to join the groundbreaking Bringing Theory to Practice Project. Funded by the Engelhard Foundation, it seeks to advance student engagement in learning and civic service as natural means of countering the epidemic of depression and other disorders of disconnection so widespread on American college campuses today. She is also a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Haifa in Israel.

The mother of two grown sons, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Hara Estroff Marano's website

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Interview

Hara Estroff Marano discusses A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting.

What makes you think that we're raising a nation of wimps?

I didn't set out to write a book of that title. In 2002, I discovered that record numbers of college students were experiencing serious psychological disorders. Major depression. Panic attacks. Self-mutilation. Eating disorders. Substance use and abuse. I spoke to hundreds of campus counseling center directors and the people manning the front lines in them. The article I wrote, Crisis on the Campus, made news. In 2004, I found that things had only gotten worse. All along, I had been asking why. The folks at the front lines find that today's students lack the most basic coping skills, because growing up they were overprotected, never allowed to mess up or to experience discomfort, never encouraged to take risks. Coping skills come from figuring out ways to deal with uncertainty and life's lumps and bumps. When the lumps and bumps are smoothed out for you, you have no opportunity to learn how to cope. Then, when you leave the protective cocoon of home for college, you feel overwhelmed by the slightest difficulty. So my book evolved from the evidence that these kids are already psychologically very fragile.


Why do parents overprotect their...

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Books by this Author

Books by Hara Estroff Marano at BookBrowse
A Nation of Wimps jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Hara Estroff Marano but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Dr. Mel Levine

    Dr. Mel Levine

    Dr. Mel Levine was formerly a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Dr. Levine is also the co-founder of All Kinds of Minds, a non-profit Institute for the ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    A Nation of Wimps

    Try:
    A Mind At A Time
    by Dr. Mel Levine

  • Gabor Maté

    Gabor Maté

    Gabor Maté, M.D., is the bestselling author of When the Body Says No and Scattered Minds, In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, and co-author of Hold On To Your Kids with Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D. ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    A Nation of Wimps

    Try:
    Hold On To Your Kids
    by Gabor Maté

We recommend 5 similar authors

View all 5 Read-Alikes

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