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Mackenzie Soares
Anxiety in adolescents has become more of a frequent issue in today's society. The effect that
a Childs everyday exposures, such as school, family and society has on the development of
anxious behaviour were undetermined. No child experiences these life aspects the exact same.
For some, the aspects tend to be more negative than positive, overall affecting how they deal
with other situations. At school, a child is prone to develop "test anxiety" when exposed to high
stake evaluative examinations. The test anxiety they experience causes worry, stress and fear of
receiving poor marks on an important summative. The distraction from anxious feelings overall
limits them from using their full potential and knowledge to accumulate a grade that reaches the
necessary academic standards. When dealing with family, it is possible that a child could
exposed to negative factors, such as over involved parenting and lack of family structure. Over
involved parents tend to hypnotize their child that they need assistance in everything they do.
The child begins to pose any situation that they must take on without their parents assistance as a
threat, and feel at extreme unease when their parents are not around. If a family has lack of
structure, a child is more likely to feel alone and uncertain of their place in the family dynamic.
In society, a child being involved in negative peer relations, such as conflict with friends and
bullying, makes them more prone to anxious feelings. They begin to worry, stress and avoid peer
relations when exposed to these negative aspects in society. Overall, everyday aspects youth
experience have more of an effect on anxiety development then realized, and when not handled
Hannah, a 10 year-old girl was raised by a very loving and supportive family. She suffered
from shyness as a young child, but as soon as she reached grade one she began making friends
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
and succeeding academically. As the year continued, Hannah began to make excuses to not
attend school. She refused to take the school bus out of fear it may crash and received no sleep at
night from stressing over the thought of taking a test. At home, she began to obsess over
upsetting thoughts, such as her parents dying or a stranger intruding their house; because of this,
she demanded to be on the same floor as her parents at all times and insisted they secured the
house to unnecessary means. Hannah's constant worry, obsessive thoughts and fear made it very
hard on her parents. Would it not be beneficial to understand what caused the anxiety and the
symptoms of it before it gets too severe? Anxiety can be defined as a feeling of worry or unease,
typically about a situation where the outcome is unknown and something could go wrong. It is
perceived as a normal human reaction, used to help make the mind and body aware of potential
threat or danger. In the brain, the amygdala is one of the main contributors to anxiety. The
amygdala is located in the limbic system, which triggers ones “fight or flight” reaction. The body
is the first to respond in a situation that may cause someone to experience anxiety, with
symptoms such as dizziness, increased heart rate, difficulty breathing and excessive perspiration.
A few seconds after the body, the brain will begin to process the situation and decide how to
react. Depending on the circumstances of the problem, the brain will deactivate the “fight or
flight” response and calm down the rest of the body. Studies have shown that children with
anxiety have larger amygdalas, making them fear possible threatening situations to a greater
extent.
through tends to have the largest role on developing anxiety. Factors that could leave someone
prone to anxious behaviour include abuse, death of a loved one, stress about a relationship or a
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
serious medical illness. When someone has been exposed to these type of situations, it is likely to
affect their actions and how their brain functions. Today, studies have shown that genetics may
have a significant role in the chances of someone developing a case of acute worry. It is said that
if someone has developed an anxiety disorder before the age of 20, it was most likely because a
close relative possesses one as well. Researchers have tried to understand the relationship
between genes and anxiety by observing if close relatives undergo any anxiety disorders. It was
concluded that if a child's first-degree relative has an anxiety disorder, they are at a greater risk
of developing one as well but, a child's environmental conditions still play the most important
role.
Someone could be diagnosed with anxiety at any point in their life, although the risk of
obtaining the common disorder is greatest during adolescence. Anxiety disorders as a child is the
most common form of psychopathy, affecting approximately 10% of all youth. As a youngster,
the most common signs that an anxiety disorder is developing are, lack of sleep, no longer
wanting to attend school and exceptional fear and distress when separated from their parents.
Children with anxiety typically try avoid whatever situation may be causing them stress. They
tend to obsess over any type of situation where the outcome is unknown such as, academic
cases, a child may obsess over the idea a loved one may die, or that whenever they get into a
vehicle, it could get into an accident. A child's mind constantly being consumed with negative
and stressful thoughts make it very hard for them to function properly in society.
Although very serious, the disease can be treated effectively. Depending on how severe,
treatment options include therapy or prescribed medication. Length of recovery varies for each
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
individual; it may take a few months or even up to a year. It is recommended to treat anxiety as
soon as it begins, this way it will be treated before it gets too serious.
How everyday aspects of life affect the development of anxiety in adolescents is a question
commonly asked in today's society. To conclude this idea, everyday routines and interactions and
how they could potentially increase one's anxious behaviour were considered; aspects including
school, family and society. Roughly, half of an adolescent's life is spent at school learning,
studying and participating in educational activities. As the child ages and moves to the next
grade level, schooling becomes harder and grades become more important. They are presented
with high stakes testing, where earning a high mark is needed in order achieve excellence. The
worry of not accumulating the necessary mark to succeed, and the humiliation that comes along
The other half of a child's life is typically spent at home with their family and loved ones. How
a child is parented is a factor considered when looking at the development of anxious behaviour.
Over involved parenting style can be defined as a parent who shadows their child; meaning they
direct their behaviour, never allow them to do things for themselves and are constantly with their
child, allowing them zero time alone. When a child is exposed to an over involved parent, the
question commonly asked is how it affects the attachment they have towards their parents, and if
they will be able to do things for themselves as they grow older, without any signs of an anxiety
disorder development.
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
As an adolescent in society, making friends and fitting in is not easy for some, as it is for
others. A child who is bullied, not accepted by others or has difficulty maintaining healthy
relationships with peers may not make them feel as at-ease in society as desired. Continuously
feeling stressed in society may make a child isolate themselves in any social situation. When a
child is isolated, it is possible that they could develop severe apprehensiveness and anxious
The everyday aspects of life today's youth experience are handled differently for each child.
For some, they are more challenging to deal with than others, making it a factor that contributes
to the development of an anxiety disorder. The most reoccurring aspects of life that affect
whether or not adolescents develop anxiety are school, family and anxiety. At school, children
are required to participate in curriculum testing that have a great impact on their academic
success. The worry and stress that comes along with test taking and presentations have a large
effect on anxiety in adolescents. The fear of poor grades and humiliation makes high stake
testing a very difficult and stressful situation for a lot of children. At home-life with their
families, parent-child interactions have an effect of the development of an anxiety disorder. Over
involved, overprotective parenting styles raise a child to be less independent and the parents to
become a child's “safe zone”. The children develop a strong attachment to their parents and feel
distressed handling situations without them. When it comes to society, children who have a hard
time fitting in, or those who are involved in bullying have a greater chance of developing severe
common for this societal issue to result in anxious feelings. Relationships with peers play a role
in social anxiety as well. If a child has a hard time finding a “social group” to fit in with, or has
negative relationships with their peers, anxiety is a frequent side effect to these difficult
situations. The challenges that children face with everyday, normal aspects of life play a huge
role in childhood anxiety. Depending on each child, every predicament is handled different but is
It is not always easy to pin-point the exact causes of anxiety in a child's life. No child's life is
identical to another, but they tend to be exposed to the same, everyday aspects of life; school,
family and society. When the environment for any of the reoccurring aspects of life is negative, it
tends to have a negative effect on a child's behaviour. It is possible their behaviour will begin to
show signs of anxiety from not being able to handle each situation as normally as desired. The
thought of achieving high academics in school becomes more frequent and stressful, family
becomes harder to separate from and dealing with negative relationships with peers begins to
take a toll on youth's actions and feelings. Fear, stress and worry begin to take over their mind
and make everyday tasks difficult to accomplish. From thorough research, it is suggested that
three main contributors of the development of anxiety in adolescents are school, family and
society.
Stress at School
Whether a child is in elementary or high school, every once in awhile they are required to take
tests that quiz their knowledge of the curriculum they have studied over a period of time. On
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
occasion, the exam taken greatly affects their overall grade average, so it is necessary to achieve
a high mark. There is a great deal of anxiety that comes along with important course examination
in an adolescent's life. A student will begin to experience something called “test anxiety.” Test
anxiety can be defined as a fear of failing an important test before or during the examination. It
negative outcome on evaluative situations, therefore distracting someone from performing to the
best of their abilities. While experiencing test anxiety, a child may undergo physical sensations,
such as increased heart rate and muscle tightening (Segool, p.1-2). The physical side effects one
feels from the nervousness of taking a test and the results being below standards tends to distract
the child. The child experiencing different levels of physical discomfort before the examination
will not allow them to focus solely on what the test requires them to accomplish. During an
exam, a test anxious child is not spending all of the time they are given to complete the test
answering questions and solving problems. Instead, they give approximately half their attention
to completing the test, and the other half they give to task-irrelevant thoughts, such as worrying
about their test performance and the grade outcome that will come from it (Lowe, p.2). When a
child is not dedicating the time they are given merely to completing what is asked of them, they
would not complete all the questions, or not complete them in the necessary detailed form.
Incompletion of any form results in poor marks, therefore giving the child another reason to
stress.
Not only does a child develop anxious behaviour from poor high stake testing results, but they
also tend to worry about humiliation. As previously mentioned, a child fears poor results of
evaluative situations, but they also tend to fear humiliation from a substandard mark. When a
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
student does not achieve excellence in their academic testing, they worry that they will receive
ridicule from teachers and loved ones (Lowe, p.5). It is possible that the desire to avoid potential
humiliation could motivate them to study harder and prepare more in advance for their test, but
when considering anxious children, it is more likely for the fear to distract them and affect their
overall results.
As a result, children dealing with anxious behaviour from in-school curriculum testing,
“students do not perform well on standardized achievement tests (Everson, Millsap, &Rodriguez,
1991), receive poorer grades (Chapell et al., 2005), and are more likely to be retained (Beidel &
Turner, 1988) and to drop out of school (Tobias, 1979)”(Lowe, p.2). Constant worry and fear
that comes with anxiety begins to affect the child's performance during important school tests.
The student begins to worry before taking the test that they will do poorly and be humiliated by
the teacher and other classmates. During test, the child will begin to worry about receiving poor
results, distracting them from test questions and not allowing them to use their full potential and
knowledge to answer the questions. When a student is test-anxious, they are more likely to
receive poor grades, resulting in a tendency to drop out of school to avoid the worry that comes
with important testing. An anxious students anxiety is heightened from high stake testing and can
Parent-Child Relationships
It is a normal parental instincts for a mother and father to want to protect and help their child
in any situation they feel they can not accomplish without assistance. Even though the parent
may feel that they are just trying to help their child, over involved parenting could be one of the
anxiety is distinguished by an over protective style of interaction. Parents tend to cater to their
child with increased involvement and protection to reduce and prevent any type of distress
(Hudson, p.1). When a child is still young, parental assistance is more necessary and helpful for
them, but as they get older, their parents assisting them with simple tasks and presenting
situations as dangerous begins to have a negative effect. For example, if a parent does not allow
for a child to learn to do things for themselves, such as make a simple meal, or they would not
allow for them to walk to the bus stop alone, their child is more likely to feel anxious if the day
comes where they need to complete these tasks alone. Any situation that their parents had
perceived as dangerous before is now considered a threat in their mind and tends to make the
child react anxiously if their parents do not assist them. Long-term affects to an overprotective
perception of threat, reducing their perceived control of threat and increasing their overall
Nowicki and Wichern in 1981, children ages 7-8, accompanied by their mothers, were asked to
participate in a problem solving task. The task consisted of a puzzle too difficult to complete,
where the child had a certain amount of time to complete it and their mothers were allowed to
assist if needed. During the puzzle, it was observed that mothers who gave more help, interfered
more and gave more direction parented children with external lack of control, meaning they felt
that they had no control over whether they were successful or not in completing the task. As
opposed to parents of children with internal control, the mothers assisted less, allowing for their
child to manage their own success or failure. As a result, the experiment presented evidence that
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
is consistent with the notion that over involved parenting styles is associated with a child’s
In a family setting, parenting styles are not the only contributors to youth anxiety; family
structure is said to have an impact as well. A family with lack of stability, high dysfunction and
adolescent. Children being exposed to an inconsistent environment at home can leave them with
feelings of instability. In some cases, highly anxious children portrayed their families as
unbalanced. This meant their family continuously switched between a high feeling of the family
as a whole with equally important members, and high or low feelings of a whole with an
increased idea of an importance ranking system (Bögels, p.7). An unbalanced family dynamic creates
a general dysfunction and lack of communication throughout the members. A child being surrounded by a
negative family structure and constant inconsistency makes a child more prone to developing anxious
As an outcome, children with specific family dynamics have an increased likelihood of developing
anxiety. Over involved parents make it harder for a child to face situations and complete everyday tasks
without any feelings of distress. Unfamiliar situations are immediately posed as a threat, and the
attachment to their parents has become so strong that they feel at extreme unease at the thought of
handling it alone. Family interactions as a whole and whether they are negative leave a child with anxious
behaviour. Inconsistency and lack of communication as a whole result in a child being unsure of where
they stand in the family dynamic, ultimately leading to increased distress in family functioning.
Challenges in Society
For any child, whether they just started elementary school, or transitioning into high school, making
friends and fitting in is not always the easiest thing to do. The period of time as an adolescence is very
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
importance and desire for close friendships, and possibly the beginning of romantic relationships.
From previous examinations of the changes in social relationships, the studies suggested that
peer relations have an effect on a child's development of social anxiety. Both boy and girl
adolescents fear rejection from their peers. Being accepted by others the same age, that they
spend the most time around is considered to be an important part of their self-identity, and has a
strong influence on their psychological adjustment when dealing with society (Greca, p.2). When
a child develops a close bond with a friend, there's no telling whether the relationship will be
positive or negative. If negative interactions begin to occur with the child's relationship, such as a
conflict or exclusion from a close friendship, heightened feelings of distress and discomfort are
side effects, overall contributing to their social anxiety. On the other hand, when a child is
exposed to the positive qualities of a close peer relationship, such as intimacy and support, they
are more than likely to show lowered levels of social anxiety and stronger peer relationships with
others (Greca, p.3). Constantly being exposed to a relationship filled with conflict and negativity
adds extra stress to a child. They begin to worry about the relationship and whether or not the
argument will end begins to take a toll of the child's psychological state, therefore adding to the
prediction of anxiety.
As mentioned before, not all children have as easy as a time fitting in as others do. For those
who do not fit in with their peers, it is more likely for them to be a victim of bullying.
“Approximately 5–15 per cent of primary school children and 3–10 per cent of adolescents in
secondary school become victims of bullying weekly or more frequently (Perry et al., 1988;
O’Moore and Hillery, 1989; Rigby and Slee, 1991; Smith, 1991; Slee and Rigby, 1993;
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
Whitney and Smith, 1993; Olweus, 1994; Genta et al., 1996).” (Kaltiala-Heino, p.1).
Victimization tends to come from lack of support from peers and any other social networks.
When a child is victimized, they are left with feelings of lowered self-esteem, isolation, lack of
concentration and lack of school attendance out of fear. A child who is exposed to the feelings
that come along with victimization distract them from focusing on important things, such as
school, and growing as a person with confidence and their mind becoming preoccupied with fear.
Obsessive feelings of fear and lack of personal worth overall contributes to the child developing
anxiety and social phobias. Surprisingly, it is not only the victims of bullying that tend to
develop anxiety, but the perpetrators do as well. It is a common hypothesis that bullies are in fact
anxious and insecure. To mask those feelings, they tend to act in aggressive manners towards
other children (Kaltiala-Heino, p.3). All of the most common side effects victims of bullying
experience tend to be equally common amongst the bullying instigators as well. When any child
experiences these feelings, whether they are the victim or perpetrator, overtime it will gradually
contribute to anxiety (Kaltiala-Heino, p.7). A bully expressing their anxiety in a negative way
will begin to affect whoever they are expressing them too, eventually passing along their anxious
Overall, societal interactions a child experiences either have a negative or positive impact on
their anxiety development. Being exposed to positive peer relationships, such as a close
friendships, tend to have a positive effect on a child's anxiety, ultimately lowering any anxious
tendencies. Adolescents being in an environment where peer relations are negative, such as
conflict with friends or bullying, are more likely to develop excessive fear and worrying. The
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
signs of anxiety begin to increase over time, ultimately leading to the child attempting to avoid
After thorough, credible research was found, it was concluded that a child's everyday aspects
of life; school, family and society have a strong impact on a child's development of anxiety, if
negative. When considering each factor in its negative form, it is easier to understand how
adolescents can develop anxiety. At school, when taking into account the importance of
achieving high academics, feelings of distress and unease from not accumulating the desired
mark and humiliation because of it, make it easier to understand a Childs anxious behaviour.
Continuously experiencing those feelings before any high stakes evaluations make a child more
prone to obsessive thoughts of worry, a common symptom of anxiety. In a family setting, when a
child is exposed to over involved parenting and a poor family structure, it is likely to enhance
anxious behaviours. They begin to form separation issues from their parents; feeling the need for
their assistance in every situation, even as they get older. Their attachment to their parents
overall enhances a perceived opinion of threatening situations. Any situation they have to face
uncertainty. Lastly, a child facing difficulties in society, such as negative peer relationships and
bullying, tends to effect the enhancement on anxious behaviour. When experiencing a conflict
with a friend, a child begins to feel worry, unease and discomfort. If the child is a victim of
bullying, it is more than likely for them to experience low self-worth, avoidance of school and
isolation. As a result, these everyday aspects a child experiences when negative, have a large
impact on a Childs anxious behaviour. If each child experienced the positive forms of these
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Contributing Factors to the Development of Anxiety in Adolescents
situations, it is likely that any symptoms of distress would have not developed in the first place,
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