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News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

The By Parents For Parents Blog is regularly updated with the latest news and information on topics that relate to parenting teenagers. We'll post parenting advice and tips from trusted online news sources and expert parenting columns.

We invite you to add your comments. Please let us know if you would like some specific topics covered, want to share your experience as a parent dealing with teens, or just have general feedback on the By Parents For Parents Blog.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Too Much Day Care in Infancy Can Increase Stress Levels During Teen Years

Children who spend excessive amounts of time in day care centers when they are under age three years old have higher stress levels as teenagers, according to a new study in the journal Child Development.

Researchers measured the cortisol levels of 1,000 teenagers, and found that those who had spent excessive time in day care centers were more likely to have lower levels of the hormone, which modulates stress. The finding held true regardless of the quality of day care, the child's gender or ethnicity, the family's income level, and the mother's education.

Though the study may provoke fears among parents of young children, one of the researchers called for caution, according to a May 21 article on the Health24 website:

The effects were modest, and should not alarm parents with kids in daycare, Dr Glenn I. Roisman of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a researcher on the study, emphasised.

"This work doesn't suggest that having experienced insensitivity in the first three years of life, or having experienced center-based care, is going to ruin a child by any means," Roisman added.

Left untreated, teen stress and anxiety can become debilitating. If your teen is suffering from stress or anxiety, don't assume that this is "just a phase." Instead, educate yourself about the problems and contact the professionals who can help your child overcome these problems.

Labels: anxiety, daycare, parenting, stress

posted by ByParents-forParents at 6:03 AM

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