How Stress Affects Children and Teenagers: Causes, Symptoms, and Healthy Solutions

People tend to stereotype that stress affects only grown-ups; however, kids and teens feel stressed too. These children have a number of different experiences that can cause them to feel stressed. The stress could be due to several different factors and will affect each child in a different way. Stress caused by the various things children deal with in their lives can influence their cognitive skills, emotional wellbeing, and physical development.

The combination of the pressure from school, from friends, and from family life, plus the added stress from being constantly connected (through mobile devices) to everyone in the world adds to the stress children feel today.

In order for adults (parents, teachers and caregivers) to properly support and encourage healthy child development, they need to understand the impact of stress on the children in their care. A little bit of stress has been found to be a motivating factor for children to learn and grow; however, too much or long-term stress can produce a number of negative effects to a child's overall wellbeing.

Research has demonstrated that continued stress throughout childhood can produce changes to the brain, emotional regulation, ability to learn, and long-term mental health issues.

For this reason, the purpose of this guide is to educate people on:

1. What is stress and what are the stresses placed on children by society?
2. Primary sources of stress for children and adolescents
3. How to recognize signs of stress in children and teenagers
4. How does stress affect brain development and learning
5. Long-term effects of chronic stress and how to mitigate those effects
6. Strategies for parents and teachers to help children cope with stress

Understanding the factors that lead to stress for children and understanding how they can deal with that stress will contribute to developing a well-rounded and healthy child.

Understanding Stress in Children and Teenagers

The body naturally responds to stress as a result of threats and/or demands placed on it. When children confront challenges, their bodies create stress hormones (cortisol/adrenaline) to help them cope with the situation by preparing the body for quick action (fight/flight response). Short-term stress may assist children in completing schoolwork (e.g., motivate a student to study for a test, finish their homework). However, when stress is persistent or extreme, children will suffer from poor physical health, emotional stability, and cognitive development as a result of the continuous exposure to stress.

Typically, a child will not know how to express their emotions or communicate effectively about their stress, so they may exhibit changes in behaviour or exhibit physiological symptoms. For these reasons, it is vital that parents or caregivers learn to recognize the signs of stress in their children and teens.

Causes of Stress in Children 

There are various factors that lead to stress in children, some of these being long-term stressors while others are short-lived. Understanding the things that can cause stress to your child will allow you to help them manage it more easily. 

Academic Pressure 

School is typically a very large source of stress for kids and teens. Academic pressure may include: 

• Exams, grades, or other evaluations 
• Being assigned too much homework 
• Fear of failing 
• Competition with classmates 
• High academic expectations from parents and/or teachers 

On top of all of that, kids worry about their futures and whether or not they will get into university, or what career they will have etc. 

When academic pressure becomes too much for a child to handle, they may develop anxiety, burnout, and/or lack any motivation. At this point, they need extra assistance and support to be successful. 

Family Challenges 

The environment at home is important to the emotional health of a child. There are many stressful situations that happen at home including: 

• Separation from or divorce of parents (or both) 
• Parent to parent conflict (very frequent)
• Financial troubles 
• Family member having an illness 

Moving somewhere new (to a new area or in with someone other than the current family) 

Many children are sensitive to emotional upset or tension in the home; therefore they are often aware of upset adults even if the adults do not show it.  

Social Challenges 

Having friends and being social is extremely important to children and teenagers; therefore, having a lot of social stress affecting your teen could be very detrimental to their well-being and result in higher amounts of stress. Social stress comes from many places such as: 

• Peer Pressure 
• Bullying 
• Struggling to make friends 
• Feeling socially rejected by peers
• Harassment (Cyberbullying) via the Internet, GPS, etc. 

During the teenage years, people place a very high value on what other people think of them, which will significantly increase their levels of stress.

Finding Stress through Digital and Social Networking Media

Today's new technologies place new, additional types of stress on young people today.

Here are several ways social media creates potentially stressful situations.

Social media promotes social comparison with others.

• Social media promotes the fear of missing out (FOMO).
• Social media provides unrealistic comparisons or expectations.
• Social media provides the opportunity to be bullied by others through cyberspace.

Due to social media having a continued active presence, it can also lead to less quality sleep; and it can create higher levels of mental overload.

Significant life changes also may create stress in young people.

For example, some of the key significant life changes include:

• Changing schools,
• Moving to a new community,
• Experiencing the death of a loved one,
• Change in a parent's job, and
• The birth of a new sibling.

Even positive life events may feel stressful because they require adjustment.

The Influence of Stress on Children's Emotions

Stress can impact a child's emotional well-being and emotional state in many different ways. Some of the most common emotional responses to stress in children may include:

• Irritability,
• Moodiness,
• Crying episodes that occur frequently,
• Feelings of anxiety or worry,
• Feelings of sadness,
• Lower self-confidence.

Similarly, many adolescents will experience an increase in their sensitivity toward being rejected and/or criticized. 

Research has shown that stress can have a direct impact on brain function and how an individual is able to regulate their emotions when experiencing stress; this combined with not having an opportunity to address stress earlier has been demonstrated to correlate with increases in mental health concerns such as anxiety or depression.

The Behavioral Indicators of Stress in Children and Teenagers

Another way that children and adolescents demonstrate stress is through behavioral changes.

For example, parents and teachers may notice behavioral changes such as the following:

• Children and adolescents withdrawing from family and/or friends,
• Loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities,
• Increased aggressiveness, and
• Difficulty keeping their attention on activities.

How Stress Affects Brain Development

When we think about brain development, two stages are really important: childhood and adolescence. These are times when new neural connections create new brain pathways that help determine how we learn, feel emotion, and make decisions.

However, when a child is exposed to chronic stress, this transmission and creation of pathways will be interrupted.

In addition, long-term exposure to elevated levels of the stress hormones can affect how certain areas of the brain work:

• Prefrontal cortex – involved in decision making, impulse control, etc.
• Hippocampus – responsible for learning and memory.
• Amygdala – responsible for regulating emotional responses (e.g., fear and anxiety/socialization).

When stress hormones remain elevated over a long period of time, these parts of the brain will stop functioning efficiently. Therefore, children will experience anecdotal difficulties in learning, remembering and regulating their emotions.

How Stress Impacts a Child’s Ability to Learn

Stress is a huge factor when it comes to a child being able to learn; therefore, when a child's brain is focused on their stress, anxiety, or constant worrying, their brain is unable to process new information. As a result, children experiencing stress may have difficulty concentrating, retaining information and solving problems. This will lead to poor performance in school, which will then lead to even more stress.

The cycle can be fairly complex: when children are under stress, they will struggle in terms of school performance and vice versa.

To help break this cycle, children need positive environments in which to learn and should be using stress management techniques on a regular basis.

Stress as a Contributing Factor to Physical Health

Not only do people experience stress mentally, but it also has physical effects on the body.

Chronic stress can lead to symptoms in children including, but not limited to:

• Tiredness
• Headaches
• Stomachaches
• Muscle tension
• Sleeping problems

Stress reduces the strength of the immune system of children and makes them more susceptible to illness.

As a result of chronic stress over time, increased likelihood of developing health problems in the future.

Chronic Stress in Children Has Long-Term Effects

Stress that continues over multiple years may affect children for their entire lives.

Research shows that experiencing stress throughout childhood increases risk for:

• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Substance abuse
• Difficulty forming relationships
• Lower academic achievement

Supportive adults, such as parents, teachers, and mentors, can lessen the risk of children experiencing negative effects from stress.

One of the most effective ways to combat the long-term effects of stress is to build resilience in children.

Ways Parents Can Help Children Cope with Stress

Providing support and reassurance to children can have an enormous impact on their ability to deal with stress.

Encourage kids to express themselves openly about their feelings.

Some questions parents can use to encourage conversation with children include:

• "What happened today?"
• "Are you upset about anything?"
• "Do you want to talk about it?"

By listening without making any type of judgment, children feel heard and understood.

Establishing a stable environment

Creating an environment that children can rely on helps them feel more secure

These routines provide stability and help reduce stress from;

• Meal times
• Homework times
• Sleep routines

Also to assist children in coping with stress, you should teach them healthy ways of coping such as:

• Deep breathing techniques
• Regular physical activity
• Participating in creative activities such as drawing and/or playing an instrument
• Spending time outdoors

Once children start learning these skills early, they can begin to build resiliency.

Encourage regular physical activity.

Physical activity is one of the best ways to relieve stress.

Exercise is helpful in reducing the amount of stress hormones in the body, improving mood, increasing energy levels, and also many other physical benefits.

By encouraging children to engage in sports, riding their bikes or just playing outside, you can significantly improve their emotional well-being.

Limit screen time for children.

Children who spend a lot of time on screens typically have higher levels of stress and do not sleep as well as those who do not spend as much time on screens.

By encouraging children to maintain a healthy balance between their use of technology and their other daily activities, you will be helping them develop healthy habits.

Schools play a vital role in helping to reduce student stress.

By promoting a balanced educational workload, encouraging supportive relationships between teachers and students, providing counseling to students, and teaching students how to manage their emotions and cope with stress, schools can positively affect the mental well-being of their students. When schools create a positive learning environment, students are much more likely to thrive academically and emotionally.

Helping teens develop resiliency.

Resiliency is the ability to recover from setbacks, adapt to challenging conditions, and develop new coping strategies.

When You May Need To Seek Professional Assistance 

In many instances, children may not have enough ability to handle and manage excessive amounts of stress without assistance from someone else. 

As a parent, you may want to consider talking to a professional counselor if your child demonstrates any of these signs of distress: 

• Ongoing Anxiety
• Fluctuations in Mood 
• Withdrawal From Daily Tasks 
• Self-Harm Thoughts 

A Counselor or Psychologist will assist your child in overcoming their distress through counseling and coping strategy development to assist them in coping with previous episodes of extreme stress. 

Finally, Helping Children Deal With and Prevents Development of Excessive Stress as Children 

Understanding the effects of stress on children and adolescents is the first step to ensuring you are helping them to remain in good mental and emotional health. 

Stress is part of everyone's life but if someone has a lot of stress or excessive stress (long-term chronic stress), then excessive stress can interfere with the way someone grows (development), learns and has relationships with others. 

When adults recognize the signs of stress in children early, provide emotional support for the child, and encourage, teach, and practice healthy coping skills for children, they can all have a positive impact on a child's mental and emotional well-being. 

Finally, if the adult creates a safe and healthy environment for the child, encourages the child to participate in open communication and develops the skills and abilities for the child necessary to develop self-confidence and resilience as a child that will carry the child through to adulthood in healthy ways. 

Any child who experiences excess stress has the potential to improve their mental and emotional health in that moment as well as develop the ability to have better mental health as an adult.

Also read: 

How Study Stress Destroys Your Memory Before Exams (And How to Fix It Fast)