(Press-News.org) WILMINGTON, Del. (April 5, 2023) – More than one in three children ages 9 to 13 (37%) worry at least once a week, primarily about school (64%) and friendships (41%), with their tendency to worry progressing with age. Older children (age 13) are more likely than their younger counterparts to report feeling as though they will never stop worrying (48% vs. 22% for 9-year-olds). This is according to the results of What’s Worrying America’s Kids, a national survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Nemours KidsHealth. The survey results were announced today to coincide with the launch of a refreshed website for Nemours KidsHealth, a pioneer and leader in pediatric health content that has been trusted by millions worldwide for more than 25 years.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention documented high levels of anxiety and worry among teenagers. Nemours KidsHealth commissioned this survey of 504 youth ages 9 to 13 to better understand their worries and how to provide support during these pre-teen years.
“Understanding what children worry about most often and at what ages offers an opportunity for parents and caregivers to help children develop coping skills to grow into healthy adults,” said R. Lawrence Moss, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Nemours Children’s Health. “Our growing nationwide youth mental health crisis requires parents, caregivers, teachers, and healthcare professionals to work together to ensure our youth have the support and resources they trust. Caring for children’s mental health is equally as important as caring for their physical health, and a prerequisite for changing children’s health for good.”
Some of the key survey findings include:
Frequency of Worry
Most children (86%) report worrying, with one in three (37%) worrying once a week or more.
1 in 3 children (33%) feel they worry more than most children their age.
Sources of Worry
Children worry most commonly about school (64%) and friends or friendships (41%), with girls more likely than boys to worry about friendships (50% vs. 32%).
More than one in three children (35%) worry about the health of people they love.
Children who worry about their looks (65%), being bullied (55%), and about their friends or friendships (47%) say that they do so once a week or more.
For 1 in 5 children, their worries extend to the world around them. These children are worried about money (21%), violence in the world (20%), and the environment (19%) and worry about these topics at least once a week.
What Kids Do and Coping Mechanisms for Worry
Regarding the effects of worry, many children say they feel distracted or unable to focus (40%), sad or miserable (36%), or feel quiet or like they don’t want to talk to anyone (34%). Others report feeling sick to their stomach or like their stomach hurts (23%) or head hurts (21%).
When they feel worried, nearly all children (97%) say they take actions to make themselves feel better or make themselves stop worrying. Roughly half say they talk to someone (49%), watch TV (49%), or play video games (48%).
Of these children, talking to someone (96%), and doing something creative (93%) top the list of actions that actually make them feel better.
Support for Worry
Among the younger children polled – ages 9 to 11 – more than 75% say they turn first to their parents for information or advice (77%), but that number dwindles to only 51% for 12 to 13-year-olds.
Overall, 53% of children think that adults don’t understand what they worry about, ranging from 45% among elementary school children to 59% for middle schoolers.
“What’s clear from these survey results is that children have the capacity to be resilient – they recognize when they are worried and are usually willing to do something about it,” said Meghan Walls, Psy.D., Pediatric Psychologist at Nemours Children’s Health and Nemours KidsHealth Medical Reviewer. “Understanding why kids worry and signs to look for can help us, as adults and parents, provide early intervention and provide our children with the appropriate resources to help them better understand and deal with their worry. Laying this groundwork when children are young is especially important, so they build the tools to cope with the emotions and turmoil throughout childhood and adolescence, leading to improved mental health as adults.”
Additional information on the What’s Worrying America’s Kids survey, including a downloadable version of the full survey results as well as Nemours KidsHealth resources on stress and worry for parents and children can be found here: www.nemours.org/whykidsworry.
###
About Nemours Children's Health
Nemours Children’s Health is one of the nation’s largest multistate pediatric health systems, which includes two free-standing children’s hospitals and a network of more than 70 primary and specialty care practices. Nemours Children’s seeks to transform the health of children by adopting a holistic health model that utilizes innovative, safe, and high-quality care, while also caring for the health of the whole child beyond medicine. Nemours Children’s also powers the world’s most-visited website for information on the health of children and teens, Nemours KidsHealth.org. Nemours KidsHealth is a pioneer and leader in pediatric health content that has been trusted by millions worldwide for more than 25 years.
The Nemours Foundation, established through the legacy and philanthropy of Alfred I. duPont, provides pediatric clinical care, research, education, advocacy, and prevention programs to the children, families and communities it serves. For more information, visit Nemours.org.
About The Harris Poll
The Harris Poll is a global consulting and market research firm that strives to reveal the authentic values of modern society to inspire leaders to create a better tomorrow. It works with clients in three primary areas: building twenty-first-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. One of the longest running surveys in the U.S., The Harris Poll has tracked public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963, and is now part of Stagwell, the challenger holding company built to transform marketing.
Survey Method
The research was conducted online in the U.S. by The Harris Poll on behalf of Nemours Children’s Health among 504 youth ages 9-13 who were recruited and given permission to participate by their parent or legal guardian aged 18+. The survey was conducted January 12-24, 2023.
For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Shari Rosen, shari.rosen@nemours.org.
END
ROCKVILLE, Md.—The Obesity Society (TOS) has joined several European, US and Canadian obesity organizations in an editorial statement published in the journal Pediatric Obesity championing the use of people-first language for pediatric overweight and obesity to address weight stigma and bias.
Professor David Thivel, president of the European Childhood Obesity Group and coordinator of the joint statement, said, "This paper emphasizes the importance of considering the use of people-first language when it comes to pediatric obesity, by all who work with, care for or support children and adolescents, in order to avoid stigmatization and to create an appropriate and optimal ...
For patients with high blood pressure in their pulmonary arteries caused by chronic blood clots, complications after a minimally invasive balloon angioplasty have decreased substantially over the last decade, a Michigan Medicine-led study finds.
Researchers examined over 7,500 cases of balloon pulmonary angioplasty for patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, an elevated blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries due to persistent blockages known as CTEPH, between 2013 and 2022. The procedure, which is offered ...
New research reveals the progress scientists at The University of Toledo are making in their ongoing efforts to capture and remove invasive grass carp from the Great Lakes.
Researchers based at the UToledo Lake Erie Center created a new way to estimate the abundance of invasive “sleeper” species in freshwater ecosystems and help guide management strategies.
Using data collected during their efforts to remove invasive grass carp from Lake Erie and its tributaries, the aquatic ecologists and environmental ...
Space is the great unknown — very few of us will ever experience what it’s like to visit another planet or moon, and so much is yet to be discovered. Below are some recent papers published in ACS journals that report advances toward understanding whether certain minerals, compounds or even life itself could form on other worlds. Reporters can request free access to these papers by emailing newsroom@acs.org.
“Immunoanalytical Approach for Detecting and Identifying Ancestral Peptide Biomarkers in Early Earth Analogue Environments”
Analytical Chemistry
March 16, 2023
These authors reasoned that if they could analyze “resurrected” ...
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (April 5, 2023) – Hereditary angioedema (HAE) is a disease that, due to its rare nature, can pose difficulties for both patients and medical professionals. A new survey of allergists/immunologists from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) shows that diagnosing, treating and managing this condition can be challenging for patients and healthcare providers - including patients in rural areas. An article about the survey is published in Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, ACAAI’s scientific journal.
HAE is caused by a genetic mutation, and there are different types. It is a hereditary disease. The symptoms of HAE ...
PALO ALTO, Calif. (April 5, 2023) – SynGAP Research Fund (SRF), a 501(c)(3) public charity whose mission is to improve the quality of life for SYNGAP1 patients through the research and development of treatments, therapies and support systems, today announced they have awarded a $130,000 collaborative grant to the lab of Xing Tang, PhD at Boston Children's Hospital & AXONIS Therapeutics to investigate the treatment effects of KCC2-enhancing small molecule compounds in SYNGAP1 haploinsufficiency.
Principal Investigator of translational neuroscience at AXONIS, Dr. Kadam, has been working with the SRF community for many years. While at Johns Hopkins, she gave a popular SRF ...
Water in California’s Central Valley contains enough manganese to cause cognitive disabilities and motor control issues in children, and Parkinson’s-like symptoms in adults.
A naturally occurring metal, manganese is found in water supplies throughout the world. It is regulated as a primary contaminant in many Southeast Asian countries where the climate causes it to leach into groundwater. However, in the U.S. it is regulated only as a secondary contaminant, meaning no maximum level is enforced.
A ...
New research published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry suggests that the microbial composition of the gut may affect a child’s susceptibility to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The human gastrointestinal tract hosts a large population of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi. When investigators compared fecal samples from 35 children with ADHD and 35 healthy controls, samples from children with ADHD had higher levels of certain species of fungi and lower levels of other species.
In experiments with cells grown in the lab, one species in abundance in ...
SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, attaches to a cellular receptor called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and activation of the farnesoid X receptor increases ACE2 expression. New research published in the Journal of Internal Medicine suggests that a drug that inhibits the farnesoid X receptor and is used to treat liver disease may decrease SARS-CoV-2 infections and reduce the severity of COVID-19.
The study ran from March 2020 to February 2022 and included 3,214 patients with liver disease, half of whom were taking the drug, called ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA). ...
In research published in Biotropica, investigators report that the Dwarf Reed Snake (Pseudorabdion longiceps) performs cartwheels when threatened. This is the first time such an active rolling motion has been documented in snakes, with images and a detailed description.
The Dwarf Reed Snake is a nocturnal, small snake that lives in regions of Southeast Asia. Typical defense mechanisms that small snakes use against predators include fleeing, camouflage, coloration, odors, death-feigning, and intimidation. ...
