El estrés y el niñoFactores de estrés durante la infancia

Abstract

Stress, one of the most widely used concepts, which has generated a great amount of investigations in the Clinic and Health Psychology, is, at the same time, a rather confusing idea due to its high complexity and wide significance. Stress has been defined as an overstimulation or in terms of intense stimulating events. It has been identified with the reactions or responses that imply a high degree of activation and activity of the subject. Lastly, it has been considered as the unbalance between the stimulation demands and the subject reactions. Concerning the concept of stress as "inbalanced", there are several important elements considered within; namely the stressful stimuli, the subject reactions and the personal and social strategies and resources which facilitate or interfere when facing the situation. Regarding this conception of stress, we can talk about childhood events such as schooling, excessive family and school demands, a newborn brother or sister, parents separation or divorce which may be stressing for the child, thus overwhelming his capacity to cope with them and to adapt to them.