CHILD STRESS: SYMPTOMS, CAUSES AND PREVENTION - ECONOMÍA - 2025

The childhood stress remains today a study area that needs developing more research, so we still find more questions than answers regarding this phenomenon. Although children, in general, tend to have less stressful environmental factors than adults, they can also experience stress in certain situations.

Stress can originate from any stimulus (stressful or not), at the moment in which the person perceives the environmental factor as distressing or unpleasant, and has problems adapting properly to it.

Ultimately, stress arises from the interaction between stimuli and environmental factors (which may be more distressing or less) and the person's response to them, which is destined to adapt through the resources they have.

We easily understand that a person who works 10 hours a day, has to take care of their children, complete their university studies and carry out all the household tasks, will be easily stressed.

On the other hand, it is more difficult for us to understand that a child with little activity, few demands and who has a lot of free time to rest suffers from stress. However, stress arises from the responses that a person makes about their environmental factors, so it is not the latter that determine their presence or absence, but rather the person's own adaptation.

In this way, a person with few activities, obligations and responsibilities may be much more stressed than a person with a permanently busy schedule.

Symptoms of childhood stress

The manifestation of stress in children differs from the symptoms that adults suffer from this same problem, due to cognitive, emotional and behavioral differences between adults and children.

Likewise, the stage of development is another important factor when explaining, since the manifestations of stress made by a child of a few years of life are different from those made by an older child.

Thus, child stress symptoms are currently divided into two different groups based on the age of the child who suffers from it.

Stress symptoms in children under 5 years of age

Younger children can express their feelings of stress through a constant state of irritability, frequent crying and a desire to always be in the arms of their parents to try to mitigate their discomfort.

Likewise, they may suffer nightmares, exaggerated fears, usually of the dark, animals or being separated from their parents, and changes in their appetite.

Finally, childhood stress in children of this age can cause difficulties in speech and motivate a regression of behaviors, performing more childish behaviors than would be normal for their age, such as wetting the bed or sucking the finger.

Children of these ages are not able to recognize their feelings as a state of stress, so they can express their discomfort through different modes of expression.

Stress symptoms in children older than 5 years

Older children may also manifest their stress through a persistent state of irritability or by increasing their unmotivated crying spells.

Likewise, as the child gets older, it is common for them to be more aggressive than normal, perform behaviors to attract attention, acquire a negative attitude towards their siblings and complain of physical pain and discomfort.

Although older or pre-adolescent children may have a greater understanding of what anxiety and stress are, they are usually not able to interpret their feelings as such, and discomfort can lead to different behavioral and emotional alterations.

Causes

Stress can be caused by both external and internal factors, and above all, by the interaction between both factors.

In this way, the causes of childhood stress are not very different from those of the stress suffered by adults, since it originates through a poor psychological and personal adaptation to the demands or requirements of the environment.

Internal factors

When we talk about internal factors, we refer to those characteristics that are part of the mental and psychological functioning of the child who suffers from stress.

As internal factors that can be involved in the development of stress states, we find the child's personality, thoughts and attitudes.

Thus, when the child needs to cope with difficult situations, the child may not have the resources to adapt adequately and respond to them with feelings of stress.

In this way, child stress can be generated by the child himself (as is the case with adults), according to his way of perceiving himself and the world around him.

Certain internal characteristics that can make the child more susceptible to stress are anxiety, shyness, desire to please others, fear of failure, fear of punishment, concerns about their physical appearance, doubts about their ability performance, among others.

External factors

As with adults, in children stress appears when their personal resources are unable to adapt adequately to the environment, that is, when external factors exceed the child's adaptive capacities.

Usually, the external demands to which a child is exposed are usually less "stressful" than those that can appear in the life of an adult, however, this fact does not guarantee that the child will never suffer stress.

Depending on the child's internal factors, significant or relevant changes in his daily life may be enough to cause feelings and states of stress.

Likewise, as you get older, having responsibilities beyond your capacity, witnessing family crises, divorces or separations from your parents can also be risk factors for stress.

Other aspects such as the death or the suffering of a serious illness by a close relative, the birth of a sibling, periods of hospitalization, changes in the school environment or problems with friends can also expose the child to suffer periods of stress.

Areas of stress in childhood

In dealing with childhood stress, in addition to considering the type and nature of stressors, it is important to keep in mind the contentment in which "stressful" events occur.

When children are younger, stressors tend to be more related to the family and school context. On the other hand, during adolescence and pre-adolescence, there is a greater vulnerability to bodily transformation, change in relationships with parents and friends, and the beginning of romantic relationships.

In this sense, we will comment on the three main stress areas proposed by Maria Victoria Trianes in 2002.

school

In the literature on child stress, a series of events related to the school environment that can act as stressors has been identified in primary school students. These are:

• Being rejected by equals.
• Being teased by children and adults.
• Be the last to reach a goal.
• Being ridiculed in class.
• Change schools.
• Excess school demands.
• Take exams.
• Bring home bad grades.
• Have conflicts with teachers.
• Have concerns regarding the academic future.
• Set goals for success and have sports demands.

Family

The most stressful family factors that have been detected in the child population basically fall on:

• The birth of a brother.
• Conflicts in the relationship with parents.
• Death of grandparents or close friends.
• serious illness of a family member.
• Address change.
• Tensions and difficulties that affect parents in the workplace, economic or marriage.

Health

Finally, research carried out by McPherson in 2004 highlighted that pain and illness can be one of the main sources of stress for children.

Likewise, Jewett and Petterson highlighted hospitalization as the most relevant stressor in the child population, and chronic disease as a stressor that can affect both the child and their family as a whole.

How to prevent stress in childhood?

The prevention of child stress requires controlling many different aspects that make up the child's life, and especially those that are related to the three areas that we have just discussed.

In the first place, it is necessary for parents to present themselves as role models for their children, so they must be able to properly manage their anxiety states and their periods of stress in front of the child.

If this first requirement is not met, the child can learn to respond earlier to external factors in the same way as his parents, making him more vulnerable to stress.

Likewise, positive attitudes such as patience, joy, tranquility, calm and the reflective capacity of parents towards their child, help the child to develop similar attitudes towards external factors and allow them to have more resources to avoid states of stress.

Another important aspect to prevent childhood stress is to make them participate in the resolution of daily and family problems, promoting a simple, realistic and optimistic way to face these types of challenges. In this way, the child will develop a pattern of behavior governed by acceptance and coherence about problems.

When a child has begun to suffer stress or is in a situation that can initiate their suffering, it is important to listen to them and value their opinions.

Although young children should not decide what activities they do and do not fully do, knowing their opinions can be very beneficial in detecting possible areas and events that may stress them.

On the other hand, it is also important to respect the "child's rhythm", avoid making comparisons with his siblings or friends, underestimate his qualities or recriminate his abilities and skills.

Finally, along these lines, parents should avoid that their child believes that he is valued, respected and loved for having a perfect performance in what he does.

This factor can cause a lot of stress in the child, so they should be motivated to make an effort and demand the performance that they are capable of achieving, but never saturate or base the relationship between father and children on these terms.

References

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