Anxiety Among Children is Contagious

Children are highly influenced by their friends and peers. Children who socialize with aggressive and disruptive children may find themselves acting out in the same way. While many studies have looked at how aggressive behavior among children affects the entire group, not many studies have looked at how depressive and anxious behaviors are contagious.

In a recent study, Rebecca A. Schwartz-Mette of the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Missouri collaborated with a team of researchers and looked specifically at two separate groups of young people. Participants included one group of children in grades 3 to 5, and another from grades 7 to 9. The sample consisted of a total of 274 pairs of friends and was examined for levels of anxiety and depression contagion over a period of six months.

Consistent with previous studies on aggression, Schwartz-Mette found that depression appeared as a contagion among all the genders and age groups. Anxiety, however, exhibited contagion properties in all the females, but only in the boys from the older participant group.

The study also revealed a factor that contributed significantly to the depression contagion effect. Schwartz-Mette examined the data further and discovered that co-rumination, or disclosure and lengthy discussions of depressive feelings, had a major role in the peer effect of depression. She believes that when children are exposed to rumination among friends over time, they may become more vulnerable to internalizing stressful feelings themselves.

“These findings highlight a previously unstudied risk factor for the development of internalizing symptoms in childhood,” Schwartz-Mette said. “Most important, a mechanism that helped to account for depression and anxiety contagion was identified.”

The implications of the study are that even if children have a healthy, stable home life, other factors like schoolmates, friends and peers can have a huge influence on whether they develop depressive and anxious symptoms. Furthermore, if children find themselves in situations where they are constantly talking about and thinking about anxiety and depression, they may begin to take on the physical and emotional symptoms of these conditions.

Chris Nicoletti writes for GoZen.com – an organization dedicated to the relief of child anxiety.