School Anxiety and Stress

The start of a new school year brings many things, including school anxiety and stress. Statistics on school and mental health compiled by Youth.gov indicate that almost half of all American children meet the criteria for a mental health disorder, and among those kids, anxiety is the most common. School anxiety and stress are causing problems for many of our kids and adolescents.

School Anxiety and Stress are Real

As a former teacher, counselor, and current parent of two teens, I’ve had ample opportunities to see that the stress and school anxiety children and adolescents experience is very real. Sometimes well-meaning adults, hoping to help reduce school anxiety, brush off young people’s stress, dismissing it as “just nerves” or “simply reading into something.” A relatively common misconception is that only adults can be overwhelmed by stress and anxiety, but kids are too young to fully experience these conditions. Minimizing a child’s stress, though, doesn’t make it go away.

School is a child’s primary world. It’s where he or she spends most waking hours, and it involves navigating an entire, complicated system that consists of adults, children, learning, eating, being, doing, and interacting. No wonder a significant portion of children and adolescents experience substantial stress and school anxiety.

What School Anxiety and Stress Can Look Like

Delaney (name changed) was scared and reserved. Her parents and teacher reported that this second-grader had vague physical complaints: stomachaches, headaches, and aches and pains plagued her day and night, but doctors could find nothing wrong. She refused to interact with other kids, and she barely spoke at all the entire time she was at school. Delaney experienced so much stress and anxiety at school that she withdrew from the experience and turned inward.

Timothy (name changed) loved being the class clown. He enjoyed disrupting classes, especially when he was supposed to be working or taking tests. He seemed proud of his poor grades. While he wasn’t classified completely as a bully, his definition of fun included picking on people here and there. He hung around with lots of people and appeared social, but in reality, he didn’t feel close to anyone. When a group of people passed him after school without acknowledgement, he shrugged it off with a grin, wadded up the homework packet he was carrying, threw it at a random kid, and schlepped home.

Can School Anxiety and Stress be Treated?

The above examples are based on real students experiencing real anxiety. Each one is unique, drastically different from the other. School anxiety is real, and students of all ages experience stress. However, there are differences in how each individual manifests it.

Despite this, identifying and treating anxiety in school-age kids is possible. Identifying anxiety in students of all ages can help those students and the adults in their lives work as a team to beat it. School anxiety and stress exist, but they don’t have to limit kids’ lives.

In the next several posts, I’ll address school anxiety in different age groups. Tune in next week for a video discussing tips for helping kids with school anxiety.

Next:

Help Kids, Teens Manage School Anxiety with These Strategies

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