Stressed Out Kids

Children are experiencing far more stress these days than ever before. Prescriptions are being written for depression and anxiety medications in record numbers. In a 2003 Survey conducted by Liberty Mutual and Students Against Destructive Decisions/Drunk Driving 43% of 13 to 14-year-olds say they feel stress everyday. By the time these teens reach 15 to 17-years of age that number increases to 59%. What is stressing these adolescents the most? They admit they are stressed out about their homework, pressure to excel, relationships with parents, time constraints, and they feel anxiety about their appearance and weight.

Our younger children are often over scheduled. Due to policies like No Child Left Behind, schools are pushing children harder than ever before to succeed. School is beginning earlier each year to get as much learning crammed into their growing brains before government mandated standardized testing beings in October or November. Homework use to begin in third or fourth grade now it begins in earnest in first grade. By fourth grade most children are bringing home up to one hour per grade level in homework each evening. Parents want so much more for their children than they had themselves. It is like trying to keep up with the Jones, but we want our children to be better than theirs too. Recent studies suggest that at least 25% of all children suffer from test related anxiety serious enough to make them physically ill.

In addition to all that homework they are being taxied to soccer practice, track, football, karate, piano lessons, or a host of other activities. Sports are becoming more and more competitive. Soccer no longer has a season, but is played year round as is basketball. In 2002 a study published in the Journal of Sport Behavior stated that 90% of 10th graders had dropped out of a sports program they had begun. Why? Too much pressure, they are overwhelmed by the class work/homework needed to get into a good college and the pressure to excel academically.

For those who have children with a mood disorder, the University Of California study that found stress causes the body to produce chemicals in the brain that lead to kids craving sweets and carbohydrates, is no big surprise. The number of overweight children is rising more and more each year. What parent doesn't find it easier to zip through McDonald's between piano lessons and soccer practice. Not all of this weight can be blamed on McDonald's though, stress plays a big part in it too. Even a child's body produces cortisol in response to stress. How many of us take the time to have our child's cholesterol checked? You could be horrified at the findings, if you insisted that your doctor do the test. A 2000 National institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism study suggests that adolescents with high cortisol levels produced by stress are more likely to abuse alcohol.

High school was and remains difficult for many people. Today the pressure is so great that more than ever overwhelmed teens are taking their own lives. Teen suicide is becoming the leading cause of young deaths in our nation. All this stress is also triggering depression in young adults in record numbers. We know that the teen years are the time when most bipolar disorders are diagnosed. Mood disorders are also becoming more and more prominate at younger ages. Studies are on going to determine if there is a link between stress at earlier ages and the onset of bipolar disorder and other mood disorders.

Think back and see if there is a time in your memory where you said to your child, "What do you mean you don't feel like going to practice? I paid good money for you to be in this program and you are going to go." I know I can remember at least a few times when I have uttered these word and I pride myself on being someone not to overschedule my children. Now that you are all thinking about this topic I will let you digested it a few days and tell you what you can do differently if you want to improve the life of your child. Check back later in the week for Stressed Out Kids Part 2.