Stress & Depression in Development
Information for parents on your child's stress
Three Reasons Your Child Could be Depressed
- Internalizing their behavior early on in life without knowing how to express their feelings
- Externalizing their behavior beyond the normal spectrum
- Having a variation of behavior tactics during the course of their life
Prenatal and Infant Development
- during prenatal and infant development, there are many risk factors that can occur.
- In these time periods, it can be important to determine any risk factors for depression later on in a child's life.
- Low birth weight can be linked to depression in young developing children
- If a pregnant woman is extremely stressed, she can pass that stress on to the baby which can result in more stress and depression in that child's life as well
"The relationship between stress and depression varies across the life course"
Child with stress
Many children are stressed out which can be associated with depression throughout their entire life. There are two types of stress that can be recognized among early childhood.
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress can be a result from an instance such as prolonged poverty in their family or academic pressure in school.
Acute Stress
Acute stress can be associated with a situation of having parents that are divorced. Both chronic and acute stress affects children in different ways, but both are indeed stressors to kids.
"Parental divorce during childhood has been shown to be associated with depression in adulthood as well."
Child Development
- If a child is separated from a parent constantly during childhood for reasons besides their parents being divorced, then they can suffer depression in childhood
- That depression can carry out to adulthood as well
- Along with depression, the child can also suffer massive amounts of stress associated with the situations
Citation
Main content area Early development, stress and depression across the life course: Pathways to depression in a national British birth cohort. (2014, October). Retrieved March 20, 2016, from http://0-search.proquest.com.library.acaweb.org/docview/1552916796?accountid=13505
Berk, L. E. (2007). Development through the lifespan. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.