An Anxiety Epidemic for Children?

Google News childhood stress •  Childhood abuse 'speeds up body's ageing process' - BBC News •  Childhood stress can trigger adult depression - Los Angeles Times •  Health Tip: Sources of Childhood Stress - U.S. News & World Report •  Childhood stress may add to adult depression - The Olympian •  Helping Children Cope With Stress - eMaxHealth •  Well-being: Stress a major factor with panic attacks - The News-Press •  Military launches post-traumatic stress testing - Examiner.com •  When Fathers are daddies - Irish Times •  Outside View: Army throws money at mental health - United Press International •  Children's Reactions to Deployment Vary - eMilitary.org

According to the online Independent, "teachers are to take the extraordinary step of calling for an independent Royal Commission to investigate why so many of Britain's children are unhappy."

The United Nations Children's Fund ranks British schoolchildren the unhappiest in the West, pointing to Britain's lack of social cohesion as the culprit. Other studies point to increased homework, a loss of childhood, and decreased family time, factors which some say add up to excessive stress and anxiety for children.

If these forces seem interconnected it's because they are, and they are not unique to the U.K. 

What makes happy children? If society finds the answer to that question, it will have the guidance it needs to make decisions about how a child's time is best spent.