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Learning Hub

Anxiety and Stress

Causes in Children
  1. External and internal pressures. Pressure from outside sources – family, friends, or school – can create stress and anxiety in children. Internal pressure can feel just as powerful, especially when there’s a difference between a child’s thoughts and actions.

    For example, Susie thinks she should ace her spelling quiz, but doesn’t. Because she’s placed a lot of pressure on herself, her stress and anxiety can spiral as she prepares for future quizzes.

    These feelings could result from a combination of Susie’s perfectionist tendency as well as from the expectations of highly driven parents (internal and external forces).
  1. Different concerns at different developmental stages. Stress and anxiety affect children of all ages. For example, a toddler may feel anxious because his primary caregiver isn’t available to give him the comfort he needs. A teenager may feel stressed or anxious about belonging to a certain social crowd.
  2. Discrepancies in Expectations. Stress can arise from temperament differences between children and parents. Pushing a child to excel when the child doesn’t have the drive or interest results in stress and frustration.
  3. Over-scheduling is a common source of stress these days. Kids can feel overwhelmed when they have a lot to get done and not enough time to process what’s going on in their lives.

  4. Your anxiety may be contagious. Children are smart and intuitive. They can feel their parents’ anxieties. They also observe how parents handle anxiety and model it in their own lives. When parents discuss events they feel stressed or anxious about with their children -- or in their presence -- they can transfer these worries to their children as well.

  5. Current Events. Children (and adults, too) are exposed to many tragedies in the news that are difficult to make sense of and process. Children can develop valid fears that these events may happen to them (tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.).
  6. Life Changes. Divorce, illness, and moving can leave a child feeling stressed and anxious. In combination with the stresses of daily life, such events can create a lot of pressure on a child.