Risk Factors For Psychological Problems In Children & Teens

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Research over the years has turned up a number of risk factors for psychological problems in children. Here’s a summary of those risk factors for mental illness, ranked according to their relative influence:

Common risk factors for psychological problems in children & teens

Factors that put children at high risk for mental illness:

  • Parental death

  • Spending time in foster care or placement into CPS custody

  • Parental abandonment

  • Depression or mental illness in a parent

  • Experiencing chronic verbal or emotional abuse

Factors that put children at moderate risk for mental illness:

  • A history of mental illness in the family

  • Parental substance abuse

  • Living in poverty/low SES

  • A history of adoption

  • Divorce (i.e., living through a parent’s divorce)

  • Experiencing child abuse

  • Being bullied

  • Overprotective parenting

  • Family conflict

Factors that put children at elevated risk for mental illness:

  • Living in an urban environment

  • Growing up with a single parent

  • Smoking during pregnancy (in utero exposure)

  • Preterm birth

  • Exposure to air pollution

  • Other chemical exposures.

Anything that threatens the security of a child’s attachments or their sense of belonging has a strong link to future psychological problems. Next to that, pathology in a parent is the next strongest predictor of mental illness in children. Not only is there a possible genetic link, but children absorb their environment. So if a caregiver is struggling, that person’s negative way of thinking and their overall mood tends to seep down to infect their children as well.

It’s important to note that these are risk factors only – they do not foretell the future, and experiencing one or more of these things does not mean it will “cause” a child to develop mental illness. The strongest of these risk factors, (being placed in foster care or CPS custody), results in a psychological disorder for around 60-80% of the children who experience it. Most of the other “moderate” risk factors hover around 30% or less. Which means most children can survive these things and come out with their mental faculties in tact.

As these risk factors start to stack up, however, the odds of a child developing psychological problems will increase. The overall environment they inhabit is also extremely important: kids with lots of love from different sources who are surrounded by positive cognitive styles can survive quite a lot and remain in tact, whereas kids with fewer resources may start to crumble after experiencing much less adversity.

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