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Early childhood is a critical period in a child’s life that includes ages from conception to five years old.〔Poulsen, Marie K., and Karen M. Finello. "Foundations of Early Childhood Mental Health: Public Health & Life Course Perspectives." Preventive Medicine 583 Lecture. University of Southern California, Los Angeles. 25 Aug. 2011. Lecture.〕〔 Although stress is a factor for the average human being, it can be a molding aspect in a young child’s life.〔Jewett, Jan. "Childhood Stress." Childhood Education 73.3 (1997): 172-73. Web.〕 Stress can be beneficial by helping children develop skills needed to adapt to new situations and deal with dangerous and intimidating situations.〔 Stress is caused by internal or external influences that disrupt an individual’s normal state of well-being. These influences are capable of affecting health by causing emotional distress and leading to a variety of physiological changes〔 Internal stressors include physiological conditions such as hunger, pain, illness or fatigue. Other internal sources of stress consist of shyness in a child, emotions, gender, age and intellectual capacity.〔 External stressors include separation from family, exposure to family conflict, abuse, divorce, a new home or school, illness and hospitalization, death of a loved one, poverty, natural disasters, and adults’ negative discipline techniques.〔 Additional external stressors include prenatal drug exposure, such as maternal methamphetamine use, other maternal and paternal substance abuse, maternal depression, posttraumatic stress and psychosis.〔〔Schechter DS, Willheim E, McCaw J, Turner JB, Myers MM, Zeanah CH (2011). The relationship of violent fathers, posttraumatically stressed mothers, and symptomatic children in a preschool-age inner-city pediatrics clinic sample. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(18), 3699-3719.〕〔Schechter DS, Willheim E (2009). Disturbances of attachment and parental psychopathology in early childhood. Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Issue. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinics of North America, 18(3), 665-687.〕 Stress is an inevitable part of life. Human beings experience stress early, even before they are born. A certain amount of stress is normal and necessary for survival.〔 A few stressors can be manageable for young children, however, there is a point where prolonged stress becomes harmful and can lead to serious health effects. When stress builds up in early childhood, neurobiological factors are affected.〔 In turn, hormone cortisol levels are uncontrollable and cannot be brought back to normal ranges.〔 ==Levels of stress in early childhood== There are three levels of stress seen in children during early childhood; Positive, Tolerable and Toxic.〔 Positive Stress is necessary and promotes resilience, or the ability to function competently under threat.〔Davies, Douglas. "Chapter 3: Risk and Protective Factors: The Child, The Family, and Community Contexts." Child Development, A Practitioner's Guide. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford Press. Print.〕 Good stress or positive stress arises from adverse encounters that are ephemeral.〔 This type of stress causes minor physiological and hormonal changes to the young child.〔 The changes include an increase in heart rate and a change in hormone cortisol levels.〔 The first day of school, a family wedding or making new friends are all examples of positive stressors. Positive stress may also come from adverse experiences that are short-lived and may lead to valuable lessons.〔 Some examples are being punished or going to the doctor to get immunizations. Dealing with these types of stressors is a normal part of life and part of normal development.〔 Normally, with the help of supportive adults, young children can learn to control and triumph over positive stress.〔 Tolerable Stress comes from adverse experiences that are more intense in nature but short-lived and can usually be overcome.〔 The body’s stress response is more intensely activated due to severe stressors.〔Toxic Stress: The Facts. (2012). Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Retrieved February 2013, from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/topics/science_of_early_childhood/toxic_stress_response/.〕 Some examples of tolerable stressors are family disruptions, accidents or a death of a loved one. It is important though to realize that such stressors are only tolerable when managed the correct way. Tolerable stress can turn into positive stress.〔 With appropriate care from adults, young children can easily cope with tolerable stress and turn it into positive stress. However, if adult support is deficient in a child’s coping stages, then tolerable stress can become detrimental.〔 Toxic Stress can occur when experiences are long in duration and intensity.〔 Children need caring and supportive adults to help them because it is difficult for children to handle this type of stress on their own.〔 Therefore the stress response may be activated from weeks to months or even years.〔 Prolonged stress leads to adverse effects such as permanent emotional or developmental damage.〔 If the sufficient support is not available, the results of this type of stress can lead to permanent changes in brain development.〔 Research has found that children experiencing severe and long-term abuse have smaller brain sizes.〔National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2005). Excessive Stress Disrupts the Architecture of the Developing Brain: Working Paper No. 3. Retrieved from www.developingchild.harvard.edu〕 If the situation is not as severe, toxic stress will still alter the stress response system.〔 The changes in the system will cause children to react to a wider variety of stressors.〔 However, with sufficient care and support from adults, children can return their stress levels to tolerable or good.〔 Examples of toxic stress are abuse, neglect, violence and overall hardships without adult support.〔 Toxic stress can have a cumulative effect on physical and mental health. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Early childhood stress and neurobiological effects」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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