Only in «Chindsgi» - and already stressed?

Lena has been at nursery school for a fortnight. She is restless and has difficulty concentrating. She avoids playing with other children and reacts aggressively when approached. Why does Lena react like this?

Children are already exposed to stress at kindergarten age and react with insecurity, aggression or restlessness. The stress experienced can have different causes: Minor daily burdens, major stressful situations or life-changing events such as starting nursery school can all be stressful for children of this age.

Stress influences the child's development

For us humans, stress arises when a situation is experienced as a challenge. We are stressed when a situation exceeds our resources and ability to deal with the situation and we are required to adapt to the challenging situation. This adaptation can be seen in our body (being tense, having a faster pulse, breathing faster, etc.), our emotional reactions (being angry, scared, worried) and in our behaviour. Stress can be caused by short-term or long-term challenges and can have a negative impact on a child's development.

Restricted stress regulation leads to behavioural problems

However, it is not the stressful situation itself that leads to behavioural abnormalities. Rather, it is the lack of adaptability to the challenge of the stressful situation. This ability to adapt is also known as the ability to regulate stress. It determines how strongly and for how long we experience a situation as stressful. The child's temperament, but also the support from the parents and previous experiences with stressful situations determine how successful the child's ability to regulate stress is.

Without small, challenging events in a child's life, later stress regulation is not possible.

Various smaller challenges enable the child to develop this ability to regulate stress and thus continuously improve their ability to adapt to later challenges. In this context, we also speak of a calibration phase of stress regulation. This calibration can only take place if the child has the opportunity to practise dealing with stress and learn new strategies in various small to medium challenges. Without these small, challenging events in a child's life, later successful stress regulation and thus adequate adaptation to more stressful situations are not possible.
During this calibration phase, severe stress can also lead to a deterioration in stress regulation. Traumatisation or experiences of abuse, parental neglect, frequent conflict situations and serious life events are stressful situations that overtax the child and reduce their ability to regulate stress. As a result, children show a higher risk of behavioural problems due to this psychological overload.

Starting kindergarten: a burden or an opportunity?

Parents often experience their children as changed when they start kindergarten. The children are often stressed. For many children, it is an incisive moment that is associated with a lot of new and unknown things and is experienced by some as a medium stress situation. Although it usually arouses curiosity and joy in the child to practise new tasks, it can also trigger uncertainty or anxiety. Children may be anxious about fitting into a group and having to master new tasks without parental support. These tasks include getting used to new rules and a new carer who makes different demands on the child than they are used to.
Starting kindergarten is therefore a challenge in which the child has to adapt to the new situation. Previous studies have shown that separation from the family environment can be stressful for children. One in six children experience starting kindergarten as difficult. Some children show behavioural problems at the beginning, which normalise again after an initial adjustment phase.

Children of parents who are particularly worried release more cortisone.

The start of kindergarten can therefore lead to changes in emotional, behavioural and biological or physical reactions. Studies show that children have a higher release of the stress hormone cortisol during this phase. However, this experience of stress appears to be influenced by the child's temperament, the new environment and also by the parents. Children of parents who were particularly worried showed a higher release of the stress hormone.
Starting kindergarten can therefore be a burden or an opportunity to improve stress regulation. However, the rare occurrence of long-term behavioural problems suggests that starting kindergarten is an opportunity to optimise one's own ability to regulate stress in a protected environment, to prepare for future stressful situations and to counteract the risk of potential behavioural problems. It is a good opportunity for children to further develop their stress regulation.
This can be used positively, especially if children have already had the opportunity to practise in various smaller situations at pre-school age and improve their ability to adapt to stressful situations.

About the author:

Nadine Messerli-Bürgy, PD Dr. phil., ist Mutter von zwei Kindern und arbeitet seit 2014 als Senior Researcher in der Abteilung für Klinische Psychologie und Psychotherapie am Departement für Psychologie und am Institut für Familienforschung und -beratung der Universität Freiburg. Sie ist klinische Psychologin und wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin der Schweizer Kinderstudie Swiss Preschooler’s Health Study (SPLASHY) und leitet ein vierjähriges Forschungsprojekt zur «kindlichen Stressregulation während des Kindergarteneintritts» im Rahmen einer Förderungsprofessur des Schweizerischen Nationalfonds.
Nadine Messerli-Bürgy, PD Dr phil., is a mother of two children and has been working as a senior researcher in the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the Department of Psychology and the Institute for Family Research and Counselling at the University of Fribourg since 2014. She is a clinical psychologist and research associate of the Swiss Preschooler's Health Study (SPLASHY) and is leading a four-year research project on "child stress regulation during kindergarten entry" as part of a professorship funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Study on children's stress regulation at kindergarten age

Stress regulation develops in early childhood and can change under different conditions. From 2018, a team at the University of Freiburg will be investigating how the stress regulation skills of both parents can have a positive effect on children's stress regulation. The study is interested in risk and protective factors for children's stress regulation and their influence on the development of behavioural problems, which have not yet been investigated in this form. The focus is on the change in stress regulation during kindergarten entry and the correlations between child and parental factors in this phase of life.
Are you interested in the study and would like to find out more? Write to: nadine.messerli@unifr.ch. We look forward to hearing from you.

Starting kindergarten is a big step from the security of the family into an unknown world. The parents' magazine Fritz+Fränzi would like to accompany you on this journey and provide you with advice and information. With our kindergarten magazine «Chindsgi at last!»
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