Signs of Stress

When children are under stress or experiencing problems in their life, it can affect their behavior and emotions. Being abused or neglected is a tough situation to deal with, so it is not surprising that many children show some behavioral or emotional effects. But other problems can cause the same effects, problems like financial stress or marital discord in the home or bullying from peers at school.

Therefore, emotional or behavioral problems are not, by themselves, diagnostic of maltreatment, but they should cue you to be particularly alert. Combined with other indicators, they can help form a suspicion that a child has been or is likely to be maltreated. 

Stress can be directed inward or outward. Here are some examples.

Examples of a child directing stress inward include: regressive or less mature behavior withdrawal difficulty concentrating low self esteem frequent stomach aches, headaches, or weight changes behavior that is destructive towards self

Examples of a child directing stress outward include: aggressive or destructive behavior poor peer relationships craving unusual amounts of attention, even negative attention stealing, cheating, vandalism extreme risk taking

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