There's a really interesting book called, "The Happiness Advantage" that examines, among other things, the neuroscience behind what's happening in the brains of people who report being happy (or not). One telling anecdote is about a study done of newly admitted Harvard freshmen. They were surveyed after acceptance (but before matriculation) about their happiness and satisfaction levels, and again after the end of their first semester. As you might guess, happiness levels started sky high and then plummeted. To get into Harvard, these kids had never been anything but first in their class, all-everything, kings and queens of their secondary schools, and they had gotten into HARVARD. After a semester, half of them were below average and someone was last in the class.
It surprises me not at all that schools like Stanford and Harvard see astronomical rates of depression among their student body, freshmen in particular. I have no doubt that there are Helicopter, Curling, and Lawnmower parents to share the blame. And there are probably more of them than in previous generations because of the American Dream becoming further out of reach, more immigration from countries with higher expectations of their children, etc. But I think "ruining a generation" is a bit over the top, although the article will get more reads with that headline. I'm pretty impressed with the young people I know and the ones I read about. Most of these kids are well aware that there is no single "brass ring"; shame on those parents and counselors who try to convince them there is.