Children often express psychological distress differently than adults. They might act out at school, experience bedwetting or exhibit extreme anxiety. Behavior reflects an interplay between inborn traits and reaction to the child's environment. Children are often the designated patient in an ill family system. Many behavioral problems in children stem from difficulties in their environment, as "Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry" explains.
Medical Reasons
Children who have a neurological or developmental disorders can be prone to stress because of their inability to acquire skills as rapidly as healthy children. According to Winthrop.org, increased survival of preterm infants has increased the risk for developmental disorders. A child who can't keep up at school or who has a physical problem needs extra support to develop coping skills. Even with good support, it can be distressing to a child to realize that he simply can't keep up with his peers. Some medical problems emerge during childhood. Chronic diseases such as diabetes type I require the child to take medication on an ongoing basis. Children often resent this and may rebel by acting out to prove that they're not sick and are just like anyone else.
Family Abuse, Neglect and Discord
Abuse of children can take many forms--verbal, emotional, physical and sexual. Neglect is another form of abuse. It may be overt, as when children are not fed properly and their hygiene is not attended to. It can also be more subtle, when parents don't attend to their child's basic emotional needs. Parents might also have mental illness or substance abuse themselves. Children have no means of escape from abusive home environments because they are completely dependent on their families. Abuse affects every facet of these children's lives. Distress may be covered up, but an astute school teacher, for example, can recognize that there is a problem. Sometimes good parents are not in tune with their child's needs. For example, child might be very anxious, and his parents don't give him enough support; this can lead the child to become more anxious and avoidant.
Bullying
Bullying can lead to great distress in children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about one-third of children are bullied at school. Bullied children might refuse to go to school and exhibit sign of depression. Many forms of bullying exist, including physical violence, taunting and shunning. As the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry explains, boys tend to bully using physical means while girls usually bully verbally. Cyberbullying is also becoming more common.
