ABSTRACT
Stress among children is estimated to have increased 45% over the past 30 years. Worrying is a common phenomenon in normal children age 8 – 13.. However, children’s worries are becoming more frequently associated with anxiety. For example, between 5 and 10 children in every 100 have anxiety problems. Children do not necessarily understand or respond to stress and worry in the same way as adults. Certain common worries and stressors have been identified for this age group. However, in addition to learning what children are worried about and how often they worry about these issues, it is important to understand what they do and where they turn for information when they are worried. Our goal was to obtain information that will enable educators, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and others to develop more-effective programs to help children understand and better cope with their worries or stressors. Data were obtained from approximately 1000 children at ten health education centers in six states. Classes, grades 4-8, visiting centers during the study period, were eligible to participate. Trained center staff read each question and answer choice as they simultaneously appeared on a large screen. Willing students indicated their choices by pressing corresponding letters on handheld, electronic keypads. All respondents remained anonymous. Questions were developed by a project advisory team consisting of center staff, school administrators and teachers, a child psychologist, a pediatrician, university researchers, parents, and health educators. The survey was revised after pilot testing with two classes at a one center. School-level data (i.e., school size, ethnic/racial proportion, free/reduced lunch participation) for public schools participating were obtained from the NCES. Based on past studies, total demographics for this study are expected to mirror national averages.
Note: this study will be completed by June 2004
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Identify the most common and most frequent childhood worries and stressors. 2. Based on the results of this study, identify common child reactions or coping methods when facing worries or stressors and the ways children seek information about these concerns. 3. Identify implications of the results of the study for curriculum development/program planning in current strategies, at various levels, for addressing childhood stress or worry.