Stressed Out and Growing Up

Phillip Slee
Rosalind Murray-Harvey
Heather Ward
1996

Over the last five to six years researchers at Flinders University have been examining the effects of stress on children and families. They have been building up a picture of the nature of stress, the type of stress affecting families and children, how adults and children cope, and the effects of stress on children’s school adjustment. This research has culminated in the development of two video/discussion sheet packages: Stressed Out and Growing Up and Stressed Out and Coping in Families.

Children are affected differently by different sorts of stress compared to adults, and manage that stress differently. An important research question was whether adults understand that life events in families stress children differently than they do adults. Another question concerned the link between life events and children’s adjustment to preschool. Finally, researchers were interested in understanding more about the qualities in families that helped young children cope with stress.

In all, 111 families with a preschool child were randomly chosen from 15 preschools in and around Adelaide. Parents were individually interviewed and completed a range of questionnaires, while the teachers assess children’s adjustment to preschool.

Stressful life events in the family

In one questionnaire, parents rated whether they though their family had experienced more or less stress than other families. In another, the parents were asked to indicate:

• If stressful life events (SLE’s) had occurred in their preschool child’s lifetime;
• How stressful the event was (if it had occurred) for the child; and
• How stressful the event was (if it had occurred) for adults in the family.

The findings from this questionnaire are presented in Table 1.

The average number of SLEs that had occurred in the life of the preschool child was 4.8, with a minimum of zero and a maximum of 13. Table 1 shows that the most frequently occurring included:

• Birth of another child in the family;
• Parents changing jobs
• A child being hospitalised;
• Greater family financial problems; and
• The family moving house.

While understanding the frequency with which potentially SLE’s occur in the family is helpful, the present study added to current knowledge by showing parent’s ratings of how stressful the events were for both adults and children.

Table 1 shows the SLE’s rated for severity on a three-point scale from ‘stressful’ to ‘not stressful’ for adults and children. Where a child was hospitalised, 61 percent of parents rated this event as stressful for the adults. In order of stressfulness for adults other events included a family member being robbed (80%), a parent being hospitalised (75%), a serious illness in the family (74%), and consistent discipline problems with the children (70%). Apparently, then, health concerns and personal safety issues create the most stress for adults.

When parents were asked to rate how severely these SLE’s affected the preschool child, they rated separating (42%), a parent being hospitalised (42%), discipline problems (36%), the preschool child being hospitalised (31%), and a serious illness in the family (30%) amongst the top five. Health concerns marriage problems and discipline problems, then, are regarded by parents as being the most stressful events for young children. Interestingly, adults rated each SLE item as more stressful for adults than for preschoolers. This could reflect a bias on their part or a belief that stress does not affect children as much as adults.

Overall, parents of young children believe that ill health and personal safety are the most stressful events for adults, and that for young children, health, parental conflict and child discipline problems are the most stressful. It appears, then, that adults do understand that life events stress young children differently.

Stress and adjustment to preschool

Data showed that some 27 per cent of parents believed their family had suffered ‘more’ stress than the average family, while 25 per cent believed their family had suffered ‘less’ stress. Results also showed that greater stress in the home was linked to poorer parental health, and &endash; in particular &endash; depression, with greater family mobility, greater help-seeking behaviour, and low family adaptability in the face of daily life events.

Information was also collected from teachers regarding the preschool child’s adjustment. ‘More’ family stress was associated with poorer preschool adjustment. Stress in the home was particularly linked to significantly poorer teacher evaluation of the children with regard to:

• Cooperation with other children;
• Ability to relate to the teacher;
• Concentration; and
• Ability to follow instructions.

Coping with stress

A very positive outcome of the study was that parents had clear ideas of how to help their preschool child cope with stress. The most frequently mentioned ideas were:

• Working through difficulties by talking;
• Support for the extended family;
• A loving relationship between family members;
• A strong bond between parents; and
• Talking matters through calmly.

Implications of the study

The implications of this study relate primarily to the increased awareness of the stress in each child’s home and the effect it has on that child’s behaviour. If adjustment to preschool is associated with stressors in the home life then early childhood educators need to ensure that communication between parents and staff is open, ongoing and informative.

Through information sharing, staff and parents can work together cooperatively and positively in planning for the best interests of every child. Curriculum initiatives, behaviour management policies, social skills programs and individualised learning plans can then be developed to reflect the child’s particular needs, strengths and past experiences &endash; smoothing the transition from home to preschool.

Summary

Overall, it appears that by the time children reach preschool they have already experienced quite a range of family SLE’s. Caregivers believe that stress relating to health, marriage problems in adult relationships, and problems with discipline affect young children the most. Over one quarter of those sampled believed that their families had suffered more than average stress. This stress was linked to poorer adult health and family functioning and, particularly, to poor preschool adjustment. In helping children cope with stress parents emphasised clear, calm communication, lots of love, and support from extended family members.

Acknowledgment

The full article appears in:
Slee, P.T., Murray-Harvey, R. and Ward, H. (Summer 1996) Stressed out and growing up. Every Child, 2 (4).

This study was conducted with a grant from the Margaret Trembath Research Fund.