The Impact of Stress on a Developing Child Rowena G. Henderson Liberty University

References Frances S. Chen, Julian Schmitz, Gregor Domes, Brunna Tuschen-Caffier, Markus Heinrichs, Effects of acute social stress on emotion processing in children, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Volume 40, February 2014, Pages 91-95, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.11.003. Summary- This article explores the question of how stress impacts a child’s emotional development. The study investigated the effect of stress on children’s processing of facial expressions of emotion. The boys who went through the stress procedure were more likely to categorize angry faces as fear versus the boys who were tested with a controlled condition. The conclusion was that decreased sensitivity to anger cues following a stressful experience could represent a coping mechanism. And an increased level of sensitivity to fear cues could represent a child’s own emotional state or an interpretation of another’s emotional state. Strengths and Weaknesses- The study does a great job of breaking down each step and describing the different parts of the study. The weakness of the study is not going into detail how or why the participants were chosen. It does not seem like there was a lot of variety in the demographics of the participants. Evaluation- I think it was a good study but it didn’t any the question of how stress would impact a child’s emotional development. It gave a more temporary or immediate response, but not it didn’t show long term results. Gundersen, C., Mahatmya, D., Garasky, S., & Lohman, B. (2011). Linking psychosocial stressors and childhood obesity. Obesity Reviews, 12(5), e54–e63. doi:10.1111/j.1467-789x.2010.00813.x Summary- This article explores the question of how stress impacts a child’s physical development. The study used 19 articles to examine the connection with low-income households and child obesity. There were reductions in child obesity in households that had less financial stress. Strengths and Weaknesses- There are many strengths in the article. The information is provided in a way that anyone could understand it, and there is enough data to confirm their results. The weakness in the article is that there was no independent study done. The study was strictly composed of the analyzation of other studies. Evaluation-I liked the article. I think it provided great information on the connection between low-income families and obesity in children. The issue is that the article is just one piece to the puzzle of finding out how stress impacts a child physically. The article only addresses one kind of stress, and one result. Renner, L.M., & Boel-Studt, S. (2013). The Revelation Between Intimate Partner Violence, Parenting Stress, and Child Behavior Problems. J Fam Viol Journal of Family Violence, 28(2), 201-212. Doi:10.1007/s10896-012-9477-6
Summary- This article explores the question of how stress impacts a child’s behavior. The study explored how exposure to partner violence and the stress that comes from it, affects a child’s behavior. Study showed that children exposed to intimate partner violence were found displaying high levels of externalizing and internalizing behaviors, compared to children who were not exposed.
Strengths and Weaknesses- The study was based on survey data taken from a previous study. It did however provide the necessary data and information. It also provided information on how intimate partner violence also affected the adults/parents.
Evaluation- It was a good article/study. The only problem that I had was that it focused only on domestic abuse. It provided one type of stress, versus providing different kinds of stress and how they affect a child’s behavior. It was a little hard to read, emotionally. It’s hard to think of how domestic abuse can affect a child, and how it may affect the child long term. Rice, F., Jones, I. and Thapar, A. (2007), The impact of gestational stress and prenatal growth on emotional problems in offspring: a review. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 115: 171–183. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2006.00895.x
Summary- This article explores the question of how stress impacts a child before it’s even born. The study showed the influence of poor fetal growth and stress on the mother increased the risk of emotional problems in the child. The study showed that women dealing with depression or anxiety along with any other gestational stresses during the pregnancy, highly correlated with the emotional problems in children.
Strengths and Weaknesses- The study provided great information but they only focused on a child having emotional problems when they were born.
Evaluation- I found the article lacking in information. I would have liked to have seen a little more information on the effects of stress on a child in the womb and out of the womb. I’m sure a child is impacted a lot more than just emotionally. I would have liked to have seen how a woman stressed affects the child in her womb, physically and mentally. And how stress affected the child cognitively, physically, and emotionally after it was born.

Thompson, Ross A. "Stress and Child Development. “The Future of Children 24.1 (2014): 41-59. Web. Summary- This article explores my question of how stress impacts a child’s ability to learn. The article also goes over how family stress and sources of stress can threaten healthy behavioral development, socioemotional adjustment, and cognitive growth. The article goes over the definition of stress and the many ways stress negatively affects a child’s behavior, emotions and ability to learn, both short term and long term. Strengths and Weaknesses- The author did not provide a study of his own, nor did he provide any data. A lot of the information seemed like it came from other author’s works. It was however, well written and provided great useful information. Evaluation- I liked the article, I think the author did a great job of providing and explaining the information. It was interesting to find out how much of an impact stress can have on a child’s ability to learn. And how even though the effects of stress of a child cognitively is nothing compared to the biological effects of stress.