Stress

A large body of evidence links a variety of stressors to poor psychological and physical health in children. For instance, cumulative and chronic stresses have been found to be associated with heightened emotional distress (e.g., anxiety, depression, low self-esteem), behavior problems (e.g., aggression, delinquency), and physical illness. Traumatic stressors, such as physical or sexual victimization, may lead to severe disturbances such as posttraumatic stress symptoms. Even stress ensuing from normative events may interfere with children's adjustment. For example, work by Jacquelynne Eccles and Carol Midgley demonstrated that school transitions may undermine achievement and emotional well-being in some adolescents, particularly girls. Importantly, many of these studies have demonstrated that exposure to stress predicts increases in adjustment problems over time, suggesting that stress exerts a potentially long-term influence on children's developmental course rather than merely a temporary disruption.