Is a struggling child just “going through a phase,” or is there something more serious going on? Many families grapple with this question when trying to identify underlying mental health issues their child may be facing. Still, it is a complicated question. Throughout the stages of development—from toddlerhood to the preteen years and beyond—different challenges emerge, and each stage is defined by very different behaviors.
Not to mention that the 2020s have been a particularly stressful time to grow up. Counseling Schools consulted experts on children and youth mental health and reviewed Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports to get to know the telltale signs of a struggling child. “Every generation of children faces challenges that shape their mental health and well-being,” Dave Daigle, associate director for communications at the CDC’s Global Health Center, told Stacker.
“While some positive stress is necessary for building appropriate coping mechanisms and forging a healthy sense of self-efficacy, other challenges may be overwhelming and lead to mental distress. This generation faces several such challenges,” added Daigle, who spoke to several CDC experts on family and childhood health and summarized their answers. According to Daigle, there are three unique and difficult circumstances that affect today’s children and youth: the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of social media, and events of mass violence.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has been a sig.
