- The study found that the increases in anxiety were linked to the children’s sense of environmental threat. In other words, the children perceived that the dangers associated with living in the world, such as the threat of violent crime, worries about nuclear war, fear of life threatening diseases such as AIDS, and other problems increased significantly from 1950 to 1993. Dr. Twenge also points out that increased media coverage of these threats probably plays a role in increasing the anxiety of the children.
- The other significant contributor to the increase in anxiety shown in the study was a perception of a decrease in social connectedness to other people and to society as a whole. The study references a number of social statistics that point to the decrease in social connectedness that the children in the study might have felt including increases in the divorce rate, decreases in the birth rate, a tendency of people to marry later in life, less participation in community organizations, and less visiting of friends. All of these statistics seem to point to an increase in social isolation that the children were experiencing during the years encompassed in the study.
- Increasing levels of anxiety could have significant negative implications for the physical and mental well being of current and future generations of children. As the study points out, anxiety has been linked to increased numbers of doctor visits, developing depression, a number of physical illnesses (including asthma, coronary heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and ulcers), impairs cognitive performance in academic and everyday settings, and has been to shown to lead in some people to lead to alcohol and substance abuse in some people.
- This study seems to reinforce the significant psychological impact that society as a whole can have on the well being of our children, particularly in regard to anxiety. Apparently, children are affected more by the world they live in than we often think. Dr. Twenge says that the results of the study support the idea that "Contrary to views that children have nothing to worry about except bullies and Oedipal dynamics, these findings indicate that children’s anxiety strongly reflect what is happening in the society at large"
- separation anxiety disorder
- generalized anxiety disorder
- social phobia
- obsessive-compulsive disorder
- other specific phobias
- Chronicand exaggerated worry and tension
- Inabilityto relax
- Irritability
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty sleeping
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- separation anxiety disorder
- generalized anxiety disorder
- social phobia
- obsessive-compulsive disorder
- other specific phobias
- Chronic and exaggerated worry and tension
- Inability to relax
- Irritability
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty sleeping
- Fatigue
- Headaches
By Robert Seith CWK Senior Producer
"I think there’s so much we have to deal with now." Steve, 17, talking about teenage stress.
In the 1950’s, ‘Duck and Cover’ was the signature line of a generation living under the constant fear of nuclear war. But as much as that fear may have caused anxiety in teenagers in the 1950’s, new research shows their level of stress was far below that of the average teen today.
"I think there’s so much we have to deal with now," says 17-year-old Steve. Topping his list? "Ah, school, girlfriends." Eighteen-year-old Karlee, who worries about car payments, getting good grades, and the demands of a job says, "I just stress out, you know."
In fact, a study by the American Psychological Association shows kids have 30 to 40 percent more anxiety now, than their counterparts a half century earlier.
What’s more, the average child today is even more anxious than children under psychiatric care 50 years ago.
One telling change, say experts, has been that kids today feel a more direct threat to their safety.
Sure, kid’s in the 1950’s worried about nuclear war, but psychologist Nancy McGarrah says there’s a big difference between fearing an unseen enemy half a world away, and fearing the student in the seat next to you. Or fearing your next-door neighbor.
"The difference is, back then, nobody that we knew, would harm us… and now it’s more you can’t trust anything. You can’t trust the person that’s driving next to you on the interstate, they might have a gun."
Fifteen-year-old Chelsea agrees. "I’ve seen some people like that, when they get mad you really don’t know what they’re going to do."
To make things worse, kids, who could once count on parents to ease their anxieties, often say they’re not getting the reassurances they need.
"Parents aren’t talking to their kids as much, and they don’t know what to use as an outlet," says 17-year-old Hilary.
Experts say parents need to make sure they do provide an outlet for their kids, by encouraging them to be open about what’s bothering them.
Experts admit though, that not all teens are eager to open up about their fears and concerns to parents. They may be more willing to talk to peers, however. Many schools and churches and other organizations have peer groups where kids are encouraged to talk about serious issues and problems with each other.
Just getting kids to talk about their anxiety, is the first, and perhaps biggest step, in reducing it.
"A lot of people think if someone’s anxious about something you just don’t mention it, and that’ll make them feel like it’s less of a problem and it’s the opposite," says McGarrah. If someone’s feeling anxious about something, the more you talk it out, the less anxious they’ll be about it."
New Study: The Age of Anxiety?
Most of us live in a world full of external pressures and concerns. As we move through our daily activities, we face concerns and pressures on a variety of fronts, both professional and personal. It is no surprise that these pressures cause us to feel a substantial amount of stress and anxiety. It is also no surprise that our children feel this anxiety as well.
According the U.S. Surgeon Generals’ Office, anxiety and anxiety related disorders are one of the most significant mental health problems effecting children in the U.S. today. A recent report says the "combined prevalence of the group of disorders known as anxiety disorders is higher than that of virtually all other mental disorders of childhood and adolescence." Approximately 13% of children between the ages of 9 and 17 suffer from some type of anxiety related disorder.
Given this statistical information, a recent study finding increasing levels of anxiety in children and adolescents is not a great surprise. The study, titled "The Age of Anxiety" says that this generation’s children and adolescents report significantly higher levels of anxiety that did those children in the 1950’s. In fact, the study says that the current generation of children report higher levels of anxiety than did children psychiatric patients in the 1950’s, an extremely disturbing conclusion.
In reporting her findings, Dr. Jean M. Twenge, a psychologist and author of the study, makes a number of important points:
The article concludes by pointing out that some of the social indicators associated with increased levels of anxiety in children are decreasing. For example, crime rates are down, and worries about nuclear war have been reduced significantly. This means that many of many of the factors that children associate with threats to their well being are moving in the right direction to reduce childhood anxiety. However, some of the factors associated with social connectedness such as divorce rates, the number of people living alone, and general levels of trust are still relatively high. Dr. Twenge suggests that until both our perception of environmental threats and our sense of connectedness to one another improve, the general anxiety felt by our children will remain a significant source of health problems for the foreseeable future.
Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders
The feeling of anxiety can be defined in a number of ways. Anxiety is something we experience as a combination of emotional and physical sensations. It is typically characterized as nervousness or apprehension in the face of some perceived threat to a person’s well being, whether the threat is imagined or real. For children, environmental causes or triggers for anxiety can range from impending exams to confrontations with bullies. In certain situations, anxiety can have a positive result. For example, a child’s anxiety over a pending book report might serve as the catalyst for that child to begin to use the Internet as a new research vehicle.
For many kids, however, the normal anxiety that comes with daily life can assume an overwhelming dread inducing aspect that can interfere with child’s normal existence. It is at this point that the normal anxiety becomes an anxiety disorder.
According to the Center for the Advancement of Children’s Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in the U.S., affecting as many as one out of every ten children and adolescents. The American Medical Association defines anxiety disorders as illnesses related to fear or anxiety responses in situations where those responses are not needed, felt more strongly than is needed, or experienced for longer than is needed. Anxiety disorders can cause children to feel excessively frighten, distressed and uneasy. If children do not receive the proper diagnosis and treatment for these disorders, they can dramatically reduce the quality of the child’s life. In general these disorders can lead to poor school attendance, low self-esteem, deficient interpersonal skills, adjustment difficulties and substance abuse.
Anxiety disorders include:
Of these anxiety-related disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is among the most widespread problems for children. Children with GAD worry chronically and excessively about any number of upcoming events and future activities. For example, these children may worry about such things as their academic performance, their performance in sports activities, or being late for a party. They may also worry about dying in earthquakes, losing their parents to airplane crashes, or being caught in the eruption of a volcano. The fears of children with GAD are usually unrealistic, and not related to past performance or any recent event. For the anxiety to be officially diagnosed as a disorder, the condition must last for at least six months.
Additional symptoms of general anxiety disorder can include:
Children suffering form GAD tend to share a number of personality characteristics including being overly conforming, fearing the worst, being perfectionists, being unsure of themselves being self-conscious, and being unusually tense for significant period of time. Kids with GAD tend to seek approval and need constant reassurance about their performance and their anxieties.
Effective treatment for anxiety disorders includes medication, specific forms of psychotherapy, family therapy or some combination of all of these remedies. The good news is that 75-95% of children who get treatment for GAD demonstrate substantial improvement. The bad news is that only about ¼ of the kids who suffer from GAD ever get treatment.
What Parents Can Do
The feeling of anxiety can be defined in a number of ways. Anxiety is something we experience as a combination of emotional and physical sensations. It is typically characterized as nervousness or apprehension in the face of some perceived threat to a person’s well being, whether the threat is imagined or real. For children, environmental causes or triggers for anxiety can range from impending exams to confrontations with bullies. In certain situations, anxiety can have a positive result. For example, a child’s anxiety over a pending book report might serve as the catalyst for that child to begin to use the Internet as a new research vehicle.
For many kids, however, the normal anxiety that comes with daily life can assume an overwhelming dread inducing aspect that can interfere with child’s normal existence. It is at this point that the normal anxiety becomes an anxiety disorder.
According to the Center for the Advancement of Children’s Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders in the U.S., affecting as many as one out of every ten children and adolescents. The American Medical Association defines anxiety disorders as illnesses related to fear or anxiety responses in situations where those responses are not needed, felt more strongly than is needed, or experienced for longer than is needed. Anxiety disorders can cause children to feel excessively frighten, distressed and uneasy. If children do not receive the proper diagnosis and treatment for these disorders, they can dramatically reduce the quality of the child’s life. In general these disorders can lead to poor school attendance, low self-esteem, deficient interpersonal skills, adjustment difficulties and substance abuse.
Anxiety disorders include:
Of these anxiety-related disorders, Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is among the most widespread problems for children. Children with GAD worry chronically and excessively about any number of upcoming events and future activities. For example, these children may worry about such things as their academic performance, their performance in sports activities, or being late for a party. They may also worry about dying in earthquakes, losing their parents to airplane crashes, or being caught in the eruption of a volcano. The fears of children with GAD are usually unrealistic, and not related to past performance or any recent event. For the anxiety to be officially diagnosed as a disorder, the condition must last for at least six months.
Additional symptoms of general anxiety disorder can include:
Children suffering form GAD tend to share a number of personality characteristics including being overly conforming, fearing the worst, being perfectionists, being unsure of themselves being self-conscious, and being unusually tense for significant period of time. Kids with GAD tend to seek approval and need constant reassurance about their performance and their anxieties.
Effective treatment for anxiety disorders includes medication, specific forms of psychotherapy, family therapy or some combination of all of these remedies. The good news is that 75-95% of children who get treatment for GAD demonstrate substantial improvement. The bad news is that only about ¼ of the kids who suffer from GAD ever get treatment.
Resources
"The Age of Anxiety? Birth Cohort Change in Anxiety and Neuroticism, 1952-1993," Jean M. Twenge, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 79, No. 6.
"Help and Hope – Caring for your Child’s Mental Health"; pp 5-7, 30-34; The Center for the Advancement of Children’s Mental Heath
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