Helping Children Handle Stress :: Stress in Children

Stress is a common emotion or state that is experienced at difficult or threatening times. This is often not attributed to children, however, and can be even more detrimental to their mental and emotional state. High stress in children is both physically and psychologically harmful, which can affect behaviors and attitudes in the future.  High stress can cause children to lag in academic settings and turn to detrimental social behaviors. This can even lead to heart disease, depression, and other serious complications later in life (Segal and Smith, 2014). Taking preventive measures or intervening early in childhood can greatly decrease these risk factors and consequences. High stress in children interacts with a variety of factors, including attachment style and biology of the developing brain. Based on the social learning theory, caregiver’s active role and community care programs are essential in the intervention and prevention of high stress in children. Prevention and intervention of high stress in children is possible and necessary.There are many suggestions for parents on how to manage this. As mentioned above, the attachment style between the parent and child is crucial in how the child thinks and behaves. According to  Dozier and Cicchetti, interventions should concentrate on attachment styles in order â€Å"to increase parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to foster more secure parent-child relationships and alter the child’s inner working models† (2003, 2005). This emphasizes the importance of a â€Å"secure base† for the child in order to be active in their environment but also feel comfortable and safe that they have someone to fall back on in times of stress or trauma (Book). It is also important to note that the caregiver is more likely to affect the attachment relationship than the child (Goodman, 2007). Parenting style also affects the environment of the child, particularly on an emotional level. According to Baumrind’s theory on parenting styles, parents should be high in responsiveness and demandingness (1973). The social learning theory supports this and parents should be aware that they should â€Å"use clear, consistent, non-hostile guidance and discipline technique† (Fisher, Burraston, & Pears, 2005).  A clear relationship has been seen with the responsiveness and attentiveness of a parent and the stress levels of a child. In a study done by Gunnar and Fisher, parents were tested for responsiveness and sensitivity to the child several times as the child aged. The children were later tested and found to have greater levels of cortisol, which is a hormone released in response to stress (2006).