Stress in Children and Teens Keith Arline, Caroline Auwarter, Fatima Chaudhry and Josh Daniels Video:

Stress in Preschoolers & Toddlers ❖ Changes in sleep pattern and eating habits ❖ Change in emotions (showing signs of being sad, withdrawn, or anger) ❖ Increase in crying ❖ Nightmare and fears at bedtime ❖ Frequent reliance on habits such as thumb sucking ❖ Separation anxiety ❖ Big family changes. ➢ For example, birth of a sibling ❖ Potty training ❖ Overwhelming schedules

Stress in Elementary School ❖ Appearance ❖ Pressure to wear certain type of clothing ❖ Overwhelmed with school assignments/homework ❖ Friends/peer pressure ❖ Family and peer conflicts ❖ Being Bullied ❖ Crammed schedules

Stress in High School ❖ Puberty--dealing with physical and cognitive changes ❖ Dating/New relationships ❖ Social issues ➢ Drugs, alcohol ❖ Exams/Grades ❖ College applications ❖ May develop a fear of the future ❖ Career decisions Source: kidshealth.org

Stress in Family ❖ Lack of family routines: sitting down and eating dinner together ❖ Over-scheduling: after school activities, sports, etc. ❖ Abuse ❖ Drugs/Alcohol ❖ Financial problems ❖ Change in family situation ❖ Divorce ❖ Military parents: Never seeing a parent or constantly having to move.

Stress and Adjustment Problems from Divorce Infants and Toddlers: Sleeping, eating, or digestive problems; excessive crying, lethargy, temper tantrums, regression; delayed development of walking and speech. Preschool Children: Heightened irritability, aggression, increased temper tantrums, increased separation anxiety or excessive clinging, regression in toilet training. Elementary School Children: Physical manifestations of stress- headaches, stomach aches, tiredness, school refusal or decrease in academic performance, depression and sadness, increased anxiety. Adolescents: Depression, acting-out behaviour- substance abuse, precocious sexual activity, suicidal thoughts or self-injurious behavior, uncontrollable anger. (Familylife.com)

Military Family Stress Research shows that children from military families reported significantly higher levels of emotional difficulties than children in general population. Pre-school children: increased crying, appetite changes, clinginess, fearfulness Grade-school Children: worrying, frequent nightmares, isolation, negative or morbid thoughts. Teens: frequent anger or out-burts, skipping school, drug/alcohol use, stealing.

Environmental Stress Environmental stress is stressors in our live that are: ❖ Annoying ❖ Distracting ❖ Uncomfortable ❖ Unpleasant

Stress in Our Environment ❖ Neuroscientist Candice Pert states, “What you are thinking at any moment is changing your biochemistry.”

Major events that include some stressors: ❖ Hospitals ❖ Work Place ❖ Low Self-Esteem ❖ Experienced Disasters ❖ Moving to a New Location

Children/Teens/Young Adults in Stressful Environments ❖ Being in a hospital can cause: High BP, High High HR and Muscle Tension. ❖ Crying Spells-Stress relief mechanism; Sheila Kitzinger-found a correlation with prenatal stress and babies. ❖ M oves-cause stress in school,interrupt friendships and curriculum. ❖ Then, hours per week and now hours per week. Speed up aging process. ❖ Being shy, making friends, diversity; sleep problems.

Helping with Stress

Ways to deal with stress for Toddlers ❖ Sing them a lullaby ❖ Hold them ❖ Play with them

Ways to Deal with Stress with Children ❖ Always talk to them about it ❖ Video games ❖ Play outside

Ways to deal with Stress for Teens ❖ Create a low stress environment ❖ A physical activity or a hobby ❖ Get organized ❖ Get enough sleep ❖ listen to music ❖ Yoga,tai-chi, meditation,etc. ❖ Go have fun ❖ Think positive

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