Consequences of Stress On Children’s Development

Some of the major stressors children all over the world may experience:

• War
• Poverty
• Racism
• Natural disaster
• Isolation
• Hunger
• Noise
• Chaos
• Disease
• Environmental pollution
• Violence

Growing up as a child my home was filled with love, laughter, and growing pains.  My mother was a single woman raising two sons and one daughter with the help of hers sisters and brothers, it was not always easy for us, but we made it through the adversity.  Being affected by almost every single factor on the list above (the stressors that children may experience around the world) the struggle was real, better times than sad but as we experiences life's trials and tribulations, we overcame and made it through the cracks.  As an 80's baby raised in the 90's in the middle of Washington Heights, as a child in the era of “War on Drugs” my brothers and I  were exposed to poverty, drugs, and violence just to name a few.  Through the grace of god, perseverance, rigorous achievements, education, self help, and the guidances from our family, peers, and teachers, my brothers and I were able to succeed and not fall into some of the stereotypes societies have for “minorities” and not become victims of the products of our environment.  

Children all over the world may be exposed to some of the major stressors that affect families, communities and societies as a whole.  Coming from a caribbean background (Dominican Republic) my heart holds dear the children from the caribbean and Latin America that may have been impacted by some of the major stressors of hardships. According to www.unicef.org, Challenges: Newsletter on progress towards the Millennium Development Goals from a child rights perspective:

“On 12 January 2010, a powerful earthquake shook Haiti. The number of deaths and disappearances was enormous, and even now the situation of the survivors remains critical. Persons under 18 —around 46% of the total population— are the ones most affected.”

“Today, poverty continues to be a challenge for the countries of Latin America. According to estimates based on household income, in 2008 some 33% of the population was living in poverty, and around 13% lived in households with incomes insufficient to satisfy their basic nutritional needs. This means that 180 million persons are poor and 71 million are indigent (ECLAC, 2009).”

“Most studies view child poverty as a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that involves human relations and they recognize that to understand what happens to impoverished children, it is indispensable to understand the social context of poverty and inequality in which they live. As noted in the present article, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have made a contribution in this direction.”

Source:(“[No title],” n.d.)

[No title]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://www.unicef.org/lac/challenges10_web_version.pdf