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Toxic stress in children

Children can experience several stressors throughout their childhood. It’s important to note not all stress is bad stress. Generally, there are three levels:

• 1. Positive stress
• 2. Tolerable stress
• 3. Toxic stress

In this blog:

• Types of stress
• What is the stress response?
• Causes of toxic stress
• Identifying signs of toxic stress in children
• Effects of toxic stress on children’s health and development
• Helping children overcome the effects of toxic stress
• Preventing toxic stress
• Toxic stress resources for parents

Understanding toxic stress in children: Types of stress

Positive stress refers to common, routine life events that may cause a temporary increase in stress from which kids quickly recover. Some examples include learning to ride a bicycle, getting immunizations at the doctor’s office or the first day of school. These experiences are temporary and don’t traumatize the child.

Tolerable stress refers to experiences that are potentially traumatic and cause significant levels of stress in a child that last longer than positive stress and take more effort from which to recover. Examples include the death of a loved one or surviving a natural disaster. These experiences cause a child’s body to generate a stress response that lasts for some time. The child’s mind and body recover from the experience because of the support of the caring adults around them.

Toxic stress refers to prolonged, traumatic life events that occur for an extended period in the child’s life without an adult’s protection. Examples of toxic stress can include abuse (physical, sexual, emotional), neglect (physical, emotional) and household dysfunction (parental mental illness, domestic violence, parental incarceration). In response to this prolonged exposure to toxic events, the child’s body produces a severe stress response that lasts for an extended period.

What is the stress response?

The stress response is our body’s natural reaction to stressful events. The brain becomes aware of a potential threat and sends signals to the body to prepare for a potential need to act: fight, flight (run away) or freeze (shut down). The body in turn produces several stress hormones and neurotransmitters that increase the heart rate and respiratory rate, rev up the immune system and prepare the mind and muscles to act.

The stress response protects us from potential danger. However, when the stress response is activated over a long period due to prolonged traumatic experiences, the stress hormones begin to tear down the body’s organs and immune system in such a way that a child may develop severe, chronic health problems as an adult.

Causes of toxic stress

Toxic stress is often caused by “adverse childhood events,” which are potentially traumatic events that occur between ages 0 to 17. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 64% of U.S. adults have experienced at least one type of adverse childhood event.

These can include a wide range of events, such as:

• Experiencing or witnessing violence or discrimination
• Growing up in a household with substance abuse or mental health problems
• Instability due to parental separation, homelessness or unstable housing
• Lack of food

Identifying signs of toxic stress in children

Younger children who are experiencing toxic stress may:

• Experience headaches or stomach aches
• Find it hard to focus or remain calm
• Have tantrums
• Have trouble sleeping or frequent nightmares
• Withdraw from life and friends

Older children and teenagers with signs of toxic stress may:

• Become withdrawn or defiant
• Behave in ways that may be harmful to themselves or others
• Find it hard to focus or remain calm
• Engage in risky behaviors

Effects of toxic stress on children’s health and development

The result of this extended stress response is that a child’s nervous system, immune system and even DNA are changed. Toxic stress causes the fear centers of the brain (limbic system, amygdala) to significantly increase in size, and the child can develop symptoms very similar to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Toxic stress decreases the size and impairs the functioning of the regions of the brain responsible for learning, memory, executive functioning (prefrontal cortex, hippocampus). As a result, the child is placed at risk for having learning and behavior problems.

The child’s immune system is suppressed from toxic stress, increasing the risk for developing a variety of chronic, lifelong health conditions, including asthma, heart disease, autoimmune disease and cancer.

Toxic stress changing the DNA in such a way that the child’s gene expression affects bodily functions and can potentially be passed on to the next generation. 

Helping children overcome the effects of toxic stress

Children can heal from the effects of toxic stress if they develop healthy relationships with caring, reliable, safe, compassionate adults who guide them through the healing process. Adults can help children heal from their traumatic experiences by helping children build resilience — the ability to overcome adversity.

Resilience can be developed over time by providing the child opportunities to build mastery and develop effective strategies for managing stressors and adversity. The following factors contribute to resilience:

• Building a sense of self-efficacy and perceived control
• Providing opportunities to strengthen adaptive skills and self-regulatory capacities
• Mobilizing sources of faith, hope and cultural traditions

Preventing toxic stress

Preventing toxic stress means preventing adverse childhood experiences. Doing so requires adults to protect children from violence, abuse and instability and address the factors that put them at risk.

Some risk factors may be beyond your control, such as whether parents or caregivers experienced abuse when they were children themselves.

Some controllable risk factors that help prevent toxic stress include:

• Encouraging children to talk about their feelings and fostering a sense of closeness
• Encouraging healthy friendships
• Understanding a child’s needs during their development
• Avoiding use of spanking or physical force as punishment
• Working to minimize conflict and engage in healthy communication

Visit the CDC’s site for a more comprehensive list of risk factors as well as protective factors.

Toxic stress resources for parents

• Harvard Center for the Developing Child
• National Child Traumatic Stress Network
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Adverse Childhood Experiences
• Texas Children’s Grief Resources
• Texas Children’s Grief Support Groups