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Alternative names
Fear in children; Anxiety in children; Childhood stressDefinition Return to top
Childhood stress can be caused by any situation that requires adaptation or change. Such situations often produce anxiety. Stress may be evoked by positive changes such as starting a new activity, but it is most commonly linked with negative changes such as illness or death in the family.Information Return to top
WHAT IS STRESS?
Stress is a response to any situation or factor that creates a negative emotional or physical change or combination of both emotional and physical changes (the most typical scenario). Stress is an unavoidable aspect of life. People of all ages can experience stress. Some stress is helpful because it provides motivation. However, excessive stress can interfere with life, activities, and health.
Previous experience, education, and support enable most people to respond appropriately and to change as circumstances require. Response to stress is both learned and natural and may be appropriate and healthy, or it may be inappropriate and unhealthy. Stress can affect the way people think, act, and feel.
All people have natural responses to stress (such as increased vigilance, aggressiveness, blocking out pain) that allow them to survive while the body recognizes and responds to severe stresses. Children learn to respond to stress by personal experience and by observation. Most stresses experienced by children may seem insignificant to adults, but because children have few previous experiences from which to learn, even situations that require small changes can have enormous impacts on a child's feelings of safety and security.
Pain, injury, and illness are major stressors for children. Medical treatments produce even greater stress. Recognition of parental stress (such as that seen in divorce or financial crisis) is a severe stressor for children, as is death or loss of a loved one.
SIGNS OF UNRESOLVED STRESS IN CHILDREN
Children may not recognize that they are stressed. Parents may suspect that the child is excessively stressed if the child has experienced a potentially stressful situation and begins to have symptoms such as:
HOW CAN PARENTS HELP?
Parents can help children respond to stress in healthy ways. Some things parents can do include the following:
WHAT CAN CHILDREN DO TO RELIEVE STRESS?
Children can do some things for themselves to help reduce stress. Tips include the following:
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Page last updated: 28 October 2004 |