A preliminary investigation of 4 to 11-year-old children's knowledge and understanding of stress

作者：Valentine Althea; Buchanan Heather^*; Knibb Rebecca

来源：Patient Education and Counseling, 2010, 79(2): 255-257.

DOI：10.1016/j.pec.2009.08.011

• Children
• Stress
• Understanding
• Knowledge
• Development

Objective: To examine children's knowledge, understanding and experience of stress from 4 to 11 years of age across four age groups (4-5,6-7,8-9, and 10-11 years old).
Methods: A semi-structured interview format was used to elicit information from 50 children about their understanding and experience of stress.
Results: Most children were able to define stress, with older children providing more complex responses. Many children had indirect and/or personal experience of stress. Younger children were more likely than older children to report that there was nothing people could do to stop stress; children reported using both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies to deal with stress.
Conclusion: Some young children have a basic understanding of stress and many have experience of stress; both understanding and experience develop with age.
Practice Implications: The research has potential implications for provider-patient communication, particularly within preventative health education and clinically within the field of childhood post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

• 出版日期2010-5