Turney 1

Casey Turney

ENG-1201-B50

Dr. Cassel

11/12 /21

The Impacts of Stress on Child Development

Stress, an overwhelming feeling of the inability to manage pressure mentally. Stress has

been a factor throughout my entire, it aids me in making daily decisions. Without stress I don’t

know how my life would be as a result. I wonder often if stress aids me in making the right

decisions or does it create an overwhelming feeling that alters my life.

As we grow in age, we develop, learn, and interact. The older we become the more we

learn about ourselves and how to function through experiences and/ or our parents/ guardians.

As an adult, I can truly say I’ve experienced stress multiple times and still do. Reminiscing

through the times I was stressed as a child has allowed me to take advantage of the happiest

moments of my life and to attempt to stress less on what is out of my control. I never

understood what stressed me out specifically; However, it interests me now in which ways a

child may experience stress. Furthermore, what are the impacts of stress on child

development?

As surprising as it may sound, the biggest difference between adults and children is the

use of heightened cognitive thinking. Aside from this, the two are similar in various ways,

pain, happiness, and many other emotions are experienced. What many seem to disregard is

stress in a child’s life. Many adults believe children cannot stress because they have it “easy,”

don’t have to pay bills, and have nothing major going on in their lives to stress about, but

stress comes in many forms, grouped in internal and external factors.

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According to the American Psychological Association, Parents’ responses about sources

of their child’s stress was different from what their children reported as sources of stress. It was

also proven that children were more likely to report physical symptoms of stress than what their

parents said to be symptoms faced by their children, such as headaches, sleeping problems, and

change in appetite. This shows the difference in stress and factors of stress in the everyday life of

an individual. Stress changes over time due to new ideas, experiences, and adaptations in

everyday life. My mother Vanisa Turney explains in our interview how stress was for her as a

child versus now, in her adult years.

Interview with 39-year-old, Vanisa Turney:

Describe stress, anxiety, and depression for me.

Stress is the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Anxiety is when one feels anxious, and nervous.

Depression is the feeling of sadness and an unhappiness.

Have you ever experienced stress as a child?

I experienced stress many times as child.

Did your parents do a great job with helping you deal with stress?

My parents did not do a great job with helping deal with my stress.

How did your parents help you deal with stress when you were a child?
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My parents didn’t really contribute to helping deal with my stress. They let me know I could talk

to them about personal problems, but they also constantly made me feel like my problems

weren’t big enough to call “problems.”

When did you learn how to deal with stress?

I learned how to deal with my stress in my 20’s after college.

Has stress from when you were a kid impact your future? If so, in which ways has it impacted

you?

Stress from when I was a child has impacted the way I deal with stress now. I now look at stress

as it is inevitable. I deal with stress better now however it took such a long time to learn how.
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According to Janis R. Bullock, Internal stress can consist of physical problems that

correlate to hunger, change in temperature, and etc. Whereas external stress consists of traumatic

events, or even when a family member is in jeopardy of dying or being injured (Wingo, 2016).

According to MentalHelp.net, stress is typically viewed as physical type reactions such as

rocking (self-comforting behaviors), aggressive/ defensive outbursts, and other factors which are

usually found in children. A common action children take is acting out due to anger due to stress

from actions taken against them. The slightest ideas may stress a child out in virtue of the lack of

development going on within them mentally. According to Mental Help. Net, feelings of

abandonment when dad goes to work, to being teased in school is taken very seriously by

children.
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It is needless to say stress is a powerful factor in a child’s life. However, not all stress is

bad. Some stress has positive as well as negative impacts. What makes stress negative is how

excessive it is in the child’s life. This may lead to immediate effects on a child’s adaptability,

especially those who are younger. What most people don’t know is that there are many varying

types of stress such as acute, episodic, and chronic stress. Our bodies react to these stress types

differently and this is what classifies them into good versus bad categories. When our bodies

respond to stress in a manner that keeps us on a form of working edge, allowing us to be

productive.

Dr. Jerome Schultz proves this idea by providing two contrasting situations: if a kid is

given math homework they respond with “I hate math” versus giving them history homework

that asks them to draw they respond with “I like to draw, Ill do the homework.” There are two

different responses because they have more confidence and feel more comfortable drawing

whereas they feel unsuccessful and often times incompetent with doing math problems. As both

scenarios are observed, there’s a sense of good stress vs bad stress. The good stress is when our

body/ brain responds with productiveness; whereas bad stress makes us feel unproductive and

ineffective at completing tasks. According to Mental Help. Net, younger children are more

prone to stress. Therefore, it’s inevitable for a child to undergo stress, its simply part of their

everyday lives.

Infants and toddlers who undergo anxiety and stress at a consistent rate will fail at

progressing to the next stage development (Rollins, 2021). So, what can be contributed to the

progression of children’s development? The best ways to assist a child in dealing with stress is to

simply ask what problems they are facing. In 2009 and 2008 a study was conducted on adults in

ways which can relieve stress, the three of the top stress relievers included exercising, spending
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time with family, and even sleep/ getting rest. Although this study was conducted on adults, some

of these stress relievers can be applied to children as well. With that being said, a weekly check-

in for the family is effective, and great to establish a comfort zone between the parent and child.

Affection and social time with the family can also make a child feel comfortable with explaining

their emotions (Caron, 2021).

Aside from the afore-mentioned problems, there are other stressors that have not been

discussed. One of the top stressors of children includes fear. Fear is so broad that it can range

from fear of imaginary monsters, people, and even tragic events. Examples of these fears may

include other fears consist of abuse, when a loved one is incarcerated, when damage to the home

occurs, and other similar factors (Strauss, 2019). Kathleen Mulrooney, a director of mental health
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for infants, states fear can cause difficulty in sleeping, staying asleep, and can even cause

nightmares.

As it is easier for teenagers and middle schoolers to hide some emotions, it is usually due

to fear and shame of being perceived as a burden to others according to the New York Times.

There have even been times where I have felt the same way as a teenager and still do today. The

feeling of expressing problems can make one feel as if maybe their problem isn’t worth telling

because others may have bigger, more important problems. This can potentially lead to other

issues if help isn’t received such as anxiety and even depression. I have gone through this phase

once when I was a teenager. Its an awful feeling when you feel as if nobody is in your corner,

and you can’t tell other how you feel because you’re scared of opinions. This can often lead to an

outlet of drug usage, drinking, and etc. This is even displayed in my interview with my 16-year-

old cousin, Cameron Cox.

Interview with 16-year-old, Cameron Cox:

Describe stress, anxiety, and depression for me.

Anxiety is when you’re jittery and can’t sit still because of something. Stress is when you get

mad, or angry, and depression is when you’re sad.

Have you ever experienced stress?

Yes.

What does stress typically lead to in your life?

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It leads to me overthinking, getting mad, and sometimes I get sad easily when I’m stressed.

How do you relieve your stress?

By playing video games, and basketball. These help me the most.

Do adults often get a misconception in your/ teenager’s lives?

Adults think we can never be stressed, and life is so easy for us. They never believe that we have

our own problems even though our problems might not be important or as big as theirs.

How often are you stressed?

I get stressed at least two times a week.

What typically contributes to your stress?

School, family problems, financial problems, and relationship issues usually contributes to my

stress.
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It is needless to say that we as adults must take the youth more seriously. We have come a

long way in creating an awareness of mental health. Our next steps are to create a relationship

between ourselves and the youth to better understand problems they face. This could help with

how we as people deal with stress as adults. As I stated the problems of stress and answered the

questions with my research, our next question is: “How does the impacts of stress as a child

affect us as adults in the future?”

As a result of what I went through as a child, depression is a serious issue. There are still

plenty of adults who are unaware of the consequences to not taking children seriously when they

show signs of neglect or behavior disorders. So many people re quick to judge and get the

misconception that children act out of their own free will whereas in reality it’s the reactions

from our brain and body to do carry out these actions daily. The lack of supervision while I was
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going through stress has aided me in dealing with adult stress. However, there are still thousands,

or even millions of children who don’t have the same results as me and something must be done

about this before it’s too late.

Works Cited:
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Bullock, J. (2002). Bullying. Childhood Education, 78(3), 130-133.

Caron, Christina. “It’s Not Just Adults Who Are Stressed. Kids Are, Too.” The New York Times,

3 Nov. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/11/03/parenting/kids-anxiety-stress-coping-

pandemic.html. Accessed 14 Nov. 2021.

“Life at 1: Stress and Its Impact.” Films Media Group, 2006, www.films.com/id/15781.

McKegney, Clare Cardo. “Understanding Child Development in the Assessment of Stress in

Children Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Pediatric Nursing, vol. 47, no. 1, Jan. 2021,

pp. 48-51. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=ccm&AN=148820883&site=eds-live.

Pew Research Center. (2019, February 14). Anxiety and depression top list of problems teens see

among their peers. Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project.

Retrieved November 23, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/social-

trends/2019/02/20/most-u-s-teens-see-anxiety-and-depression-as-a-major-problem-among-

their-peers/psdt_02-20-19_teens-00-00/.

Strauss, V. (2019, May 22). Report: The effect chronic stress has on children at school — and

why policymakers should care. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/05/22/report-effect-chronic-stress-has-

children-school-why-policymakers-should-care/.

“Science.” Changing Minds, by Futures Without Violence, Changing Minds, 20 Nov. 2019,

changingmindsnow.org/science/.
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“Stress and Heart Health.” Www.heart.org, American Heart Association,

www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/stress-and-heart-

health.

“Stress and Young Children.” Mental Help Stress and Young Children Comments,

www.mentalhelp.net/stress/and-young-children/.

Wingo, M. K. (2016). The impact of the Human Stress Response: The biologic origins of human

stress. Roxwell Waterhouse.

WISEMAN, H.; HAMILTON-GIACHRITSIS, C.; HILLER, R. M. The Relevance of Cognitive

Behavioral Models of Post-Traumatic Stress Following Child Maltreatment: A

Systematic Review. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, [s. l.], v. 22, n. 1, p. 191–206, 2021.

DOI 10.1177/1524838019827894. Disponível em:

https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=i3h&AN=147065421&site=eds

-live. Acesso em: 10 nov. 2021.