The Effects Of Stress On A Developing Child

It is often believed that only adults experience stress and anxiety, however stress is something that does not have an age requirement. Adolescent stress and anxiety are important health issues that often go unnoticed. Early adolescence is defined, as a period between 11 and 14 years of age (Carlozzi, Winterowd, Harrist Thomason, Bratkovich, & Worth, 2010, p. 446). These years are usually marked by rapid changes. For most students, stress can stem from puberty, new demands of school, changing peer relationships, and responsibilities to families. Not to mention, early adolescence is period of development where identities, social skills, and personal values are being established.

In the book, Age of Opportunity: Lessons from the New Science of Adolescence, the author, Lawrence Steinberg, starts out the first chapter by explaining how we once thought that the brain was mostly done maturing by adolescence, but with new research we are learning that the brain continues to develop into one’s twenties. He goes on to say that children are hitting puberty earlier in life and placing them “at significantly greater risk for a host of physical, mental, and behavioral problems, including depression, delinquency, and even cancer” (9). The reason why children are going through puberty is based on a mix on environmental and genetic influences. The more nourished and fed you are the higher chance of you going through puberty earlier. Although this was the case in 1850-1950, the continuing decline of age in puberty today, is due to more troubling reasons. The five mains reasons for today is: 1. Obesity 2. Artificial light 3. Endocrine disruptors 4. Premature birth 5. Family stress. Steinberg explains how adolescent is a time of neuroplasticity and the longer period of adolescence can have good consequences or severely negative consequences, depending on if they’re in a stimulating environment or a toxic environment.

The Biological aspects of adolescence is a period of great physical change, marked by a rapid growth spurt, the maturation of the reproductive system and continuing brain development. Adolescence are confronted with all kinds of changes within themselves mentally and physically as well as changes in how the outside world perceives them (Hutchison, 2015, pp 228). These changes can be difficult to handle if the adolescence struggles with a difficult home live, abuse or neglect. It is easy to see that Charlie is having a difficult time as a freshman in high school. He seems introverted, into his books and maybe a little bit socially awkward. He is having a difficult time making friends. He also seems nervous

Adolescence is a critical time of development. During this period there are significant changes in brain development, emotions, cognition, behavior, and personal relationships. It is during this time that most major mental health disorders appear, many of which carry over into adulthood. Behavior patterns such as substance abuse also often develop during this time and may continue throughout adulthood. Many adolescents struggling with mental health issues begin to exhibit symptoms such as acting out at home or in school, showing a decreased interest in activities that they previously enjoyed, or bringing home poor grades. Others ultimately are charged with offenses ranging from status

Throughout life, both children and adults experience varying amounts of stress in their everyday lives. For the most part, this has been proven to be healthy and crucial in strengthening their response to such stimuli later in life. This paper will focus on the findings of various studies in which researchers have found links between stress exposure and childhood development. Specifically, this paper will focus on the effects of what is known as toxic stress and its effects on the development of a child and its role in the development of mental disorders as the child transitions into adulthood.

Childhood trauma affects many brain systems. The stress response system and its cosystems pay the greatest toll when a child experiences chronic threat. Taking a closer look at the

Though very familiar with most of the risk taking and unconventional behavior typical to teenagers, from my own adolescence, I never really understood why it happened. Watching the two videos “Insight into the Teenage Brain” and “The Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain” gave me a better understanding of the psychological processes that take place during adolescence. To my surprise, both scientists had a different approach than I expected: instead

When a person is still a young child, they cannot wait to grow up. Children want to gain experiences through freedom, leaving behind a safety blanket and falling into the most difficult time of life, adolescence. Adolescence is a time of apprehension, adversities and uncertainty, which can and will bring on a prodigious amount of anxiety. Adolescence is an arduous time as people are stuck between childhood and adulthood, this affects the way teenagers behave and think, this makes life very challenging and stressful. The novels The Catcher in the Rye bye J.D. Salinger and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky both validate the complications of this segment in life.

Neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders such as autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders, which typically emerge in children and adolescents, have been extensively investigated worldwide for decades. The pathogenesis and mechanism remained unclear, and no effective treatment has been identified so far. Recently, a variety of studies identified prenatal stress (PS) as a risk factor for neurodevelopmental socioemotional disorders (Khashan et al., 2008, Kinney et al., 2008, Ronald et al., 2010, Monk et al., 2012). A popular thesis proposed that socioemotional disorders arise from PS-induced perturbations to early brain development, especially the neurophysiology of amygdala. Various studies have shown that the amygdala is implicated in the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders (Quirk and Gehlert, 2003), also several studies have identified that PS affects amygdala development (Kraszpulski et al., 2006, Laloux et al., 2012). However, little is known about how PS influences the amygdala developmental trajectory. Ehrlich et al. conducted this study to first investigate whether PS has an effect on socioemotional behavior of adolescents and adults, and secondly whether and how PS alters amygdala neuron excitability. They were motivated to explain the relationship among PS, amygdala neuronal activity and socioemotional behaviors because understanding the trajectory of brain development can provide potential targets for intervention of the

Stress, defined as a state where the homeostasis is disrupted and required subsequent adaptations, is a common phenomenon in today’s society (Kopin, 1995). It exists throughout the lifespan, starting as early as the fetal stage till one’s death. In particular, early life stress has come to light in recent years as it is becoming increasingly prevalent and more critically, it has been shown to increase the susceptibility to neuropsychiatric disorders, such as PTSD, in adulthood (Gibb et al., 2007). Since these psychopathologies are characterized by emotional dysregulation, especially in the aspect of fear as ELS has been associated with increased anxiogenic behaviors (Caldji et al., 2000; Ishikawa et al., 2015; Wei et al., 2010), it is important

Biologically, teenagers heavily rely on the limbic system, which is the emotion centre on the brain. This was seen when teenagers and adults were put under an experiment to recognise photographed facial expressions in an MRI. The results showed that the adults saw fear the correct emotion being displayed in the photos while teenagers saw anger and shock. As well, it was seen that adults would use the frontal cortex to determine emotion while teenagers used the limbic system. This gave the assumption that teenagers cognitively, perceived emotions on faces that were not actually there, meaning they cannot read emotion and that by the limbic system being heavily relied on by teenagers that they use more of their gut response than interior logic. The teenage brain during puberty is the most vulnerable to hormones causing frequent mood swings. On a cognitive level teens think that no one understands them as they do not fully understand themselves. They will blurt out things they do not expect themselves to say. They will shout, talk back to their parents, and have tantrums. Similar to the behaviour of toddlers, teens do not want to abide by their parents rules. They have a mindset to rebel against their parents as they are no longer seen as children. But for most of their adolescent years, teenagers feel insecure, lonely, confused, isolated and vulnerable often. Socioculturally, in an

Adolescence is a stage of maturation between childhood and adulthood that denotes the period from the beginning of puberty to maturity. However, many conflicting opinions are raised about weather such a stage of childhood is influenced by stress, depression, and suicide rate. Some people support the optimistic view that says that adolescence is not a period of storm and stress. Others, including me, support an opposite pessimistic view which characterizes adolescence as a period of stress and inner turmoil. Unfortunately, it has been recently proved that depression is a growing problem in today 's society and a major contributing factor for a multitude of adolescent problems. This is because , as research indicates, adolescent depression

Teen stress is a big issue in today's society. Recent studies have shown that teens may develop more stress then adults. Few adults can remember the truth about adolescence. "Their minds "censor" their memories, and have them believe that being a teenager was was one big party, free of cares and responsibilities"( ). There aren't that many adults around who realize what adolescence was really like. The anguish, the fear, the anxiety, the stress. People don't remember those problems because they want to forget them. Stress is a significant problem for teens. There are many factors that lead into teen stress, such as school, drugs, peer pressure and

Adolescence is the distinct transitional stage between childhood and adulthood in human development, extending primarily over the teenage years and terminating legally when the age of majority is reached (Rathus, 2014). However in some instances, this biological, cognitive, social and emotional maturity may not be reached until a later stage and may be dictated by gender. Adolescence is characterised by rapidly changing and unpredictable behaviour (Freud, as cited in Rathus 2014), heightened and unstable emotions (Hall, as cited in Rathus 2014), disturbances in identity, the gradual development of one’s moral reasoning (Kohlberg, as cited in Rathus, 2014) and the gradual establishment of one’s independence. Several of these changes may occur at differing phases in adolescent growth. This development is categorized into three separate stages; early adolescence, middle adolescence, and late adolescence. Early Adolescence, commencing from the ages of eleven or twelve until the age of fourteen, comprises of several features such as rapid biological development and maturity, heightened stress levels and limited coping capabilities. On the other hand, middle adolescence, from the approximate age of fourteen to sixteen, involves the gradual cease of biological change, an increase in coping strategies and declined stress levels. Furthermore, late adolescence, commencing from the age of sixteen until the age of eighteen or nineteen, encompasses physical maturity, whereby the

Throughout, history, there has been a common belief that teenagers get more distracted or embarrassed more easily. In addition, they seem more self centered, and are more likely to react negatively to stress. These susceptibilities are viewed down upon by adults because teenagers are expected to have all of the skills ready for adulthood, and these expectations are made from the misbelief that the brain has already gone through the majority of its development before adolescence. If it is widely understood that the brain is actually at its most vulnerable stage, people can shift education and development to also encompass the teenage years. This may help the millions of children that currently do not have the resources for education during adolescence.