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Erath, S. A., & Tu, K. M. (2014). Peer stress in preadolescence: Linking physiological and coping responses with social competence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 24(4), 757-771.

Masten, C. L., Eisenberger, N. I., Pfeifer, J. H., Colich, N. L., & Dapretto, M. (2013). Associations among pubertal development, empathic ability, and neural responses while witnessing peer rejection in adolescence. Child Development, 84(4), 1338-1354.

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2015). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8: Health and Physical Education.

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Engaged coping strategy

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The relationships you have with your family and friends grow and change as you get older. Find out about bullying, etiquette and more.

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How Teenagers' Brains Are Actually Wired Differently

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Cognitive empathy

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Superheroes Social Skills - Perspective Taking (Short Takes 3)

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Perspective taking skills

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- Both studies were conducted in the lab setting, an unfamiliar environment for students, and so the results may not generalize to the natural peer environment

- Both studies used a single task to simulate the experience of observing peer exclusion and being rejected by unfamiliar peers, and the results may not generalize to other more specific social factors (i.e., individual's relationship with the peers involved, location of the peer stress experienced, etc.)

Masten et al. (2013) study:
- The sample size was relatively small and did not permit meaningful exploration of gender or other individual differences.

- The study did not control for potential correlates of puberty (ex. changes in self-image, risk taking, time spent with peers vs. parents, etc.) and so it is not sure that pubertal maturation, rather than a related change in behaviour or context, led to reported findings.

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Depression and Suicide | Mental Health in Children

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Knowing the signs and symptoms of depression and suicide is critical in reducing the numbers. Review information, prevention tips and resources.

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Engaged coping strategies

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Coping Skills Practice Exercise Instructions For Coping Skills Practice Exercise: 1. The following activity uses some common emotionally

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Suicide is the second leading cause of death in people ages 10-24 years. Research shows that more than 95 percent of people who kill themselves have depression or another diagnosable mental or substance abuse disorder, often in combination with other mental disorders. It's important to treat depression early to help prevent a mental health crisis. If a child has symptoms of depression, lasting almost every day for two weeks or more, he or she needs to be evaluated.

Risk Factors for Suicide

Depression is not the only risk factor for suicide. There are some experiences in a child's life that may put them at higher risk. Although some of these risk factors cannot be changed, it is important to be aware that they can increase the possibility of a suicide attempt. Some of the leading factors that increase the risk of suicide among children and teens are:

Family history of depression or suicide

Psychological disorder, especially depression, bipolar disorder and / or alcohol and drug abuse disorder

Previous suicidal attempt

Access to a firearm

Stressful life events or loss and a lack of family support

Serious medical condition and / or pain

Sexual identity concerns

History of abuse or being severely bullied

Signs and Symptoms of Depression

The behavior of depressed children and teenagers may differ from the behavior of depressed adults. Child and adolescent psychiatrists advise parents to be aware of signs of depression in their children.

If one or more of these signs of depression persist, parents should seek help:

Frequent sadness, tearfulness, crying

Hopelessness

Decreased interest in activities or inability to enjoy previously favorite activities

Persistent boredom or low energy

Withdrawal from friends or family

Low self-esteem and guilt

Increased irritability, anger or hostility

Trouble with relationships

Frequent complaints of physical illnesses such as headaches or stomach aches

Frequent absences from school or poor performance in school

Poor concentration

A major change in eating and / or sleeping patterns

Talk of or efforts to run away from home

Anxiety

Some signs that a child or teen is considering suicide may include:

Giving away or selling valuable or cherished possessions

Talking or joking about committing suicide

Saying things like, "I'd be better off dead, "or "I wish I could disappear forever"

Saying goodbye to friends and family as if for the last time

Writing stories and poems or posting writings online about death, dying or suicide

Protective Factors

Some things in life may help protect a person from suicidal thoughts or attempts:

Connection to community

Support from friends and family

Spiritual beliefs that value life and discourage suicide

Access to medical care and treatment

Problem-solving skills

Healthy lifestyle habits (no substance abuse)

Preventive Action

If parents or another adult in a young person's life suspect a problem with depression, they should:

Be aware − While rare in young children, suicide is possible. Know the warning signs and risk factors that may increase your child's risk of suicide.

Talk to your child − Talking about suicide will not give your child the idea to attempt suicide. If a friend or other loved has died, committed suicide or is extremely ill, talk to your child about it and address her feelings.

Tell others − If your child exhibits suicidal thoughts or behaviors, tell your child's other caretakers and faculty members at her school so they can closely monitor your child when you are not around.

Keep weapons locked up − Common sense tells you to keep weapons, medications, alcohol, and poisons safely away from children, but this is especially important for children at risk for suicide.

Get your child treatment − If your child is depressed, at high risk for depression or other mental illness, it is essential to get her treatment.

Educate yourself − Get accurate information from libraries, help lines and other sources. Join a family support group.

Resources

A visit to a family physician or pediatrician may be the first step However, if you think that your child is in crisis and has had a previous suicide attempt, is threatening to harm herself, or you just have a "gut feeling," get your child help immediately. Do not wait to take your child to a pediatric emergency room.

Having a child who is depressed or is suicidal does not make you a bad parent or mean that you did anything to cause his/her pain. The best thing you can do is to get your child help and support her in her recovery.

Supporting a Teen Through Depression Treatment

Let him or her know that you're there to listen and offer support. Now more than ever, your teenager needs to know that he or she is valued, accepted, and cared for.

Encourage physical activity. Encourage your teenager to stay active. Exercise can go a long way toward relieving the symptoms of depression, so find ways to incorporate it into your teenager's day.

Encourage social activity. Isolation only makes depression worse, so encourage your teenager to see friends and praise efforts to socialize. Offer to take your teen out with friends or suggest social activities that might be of interest, such as sports, after-school clubs, or an art class.

Stay involved in treatment. Make sure your teenager is following all treatment instructions and going to therapy. It's especially important that your child takes any prescribed medication as instructed.

Learn about depression. The more you know, the better equipped you'll be to help your depressed teen.

Taking Care of the Whole Family when One Child is Depressed

As a parent dealing with teen depression, you may find yourself focusing all your energy and attention on your depressed child. Meanwhile, you may be neglecting your own needs and the needs of other family members. While helping your depressed child should be a top priority, it's important to keep your whole family strong and healthy during this difficult time.

Take care of yourself - In order to help a depressed teen, you need to stay healthy and positive yourself, so don't ignore your own needs.

Reach out for support - Get the emotional support you need. Reach out to friends, join a support group, or see a therapist of your own.

Be open with the family - Don't tiptoe around the issue of teen depression in an attempt to "protect" the other children. Kids know when something is wrong. Be open about what is going on and invite your children to ask questions and share their feelings.

Remember the siblings - Depression in one child can cause stress or anxiety in other family members, so make sure "healthy" children are not ignored. Siblings may need special individual attention or professional help of their own to handle their feelings about the situation.

Suicide Prevention Hotline

Call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) at 988, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The service is available to everyone. The deaf and hard of hearing can contact the Lifeline via TTY by dialing 711 then 988. All calls are confidential. Dial 911 in an emergency.

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Depression and Suicide | Mental Health in Children

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Knowing the signs and symptoms of depression and suicide is critical in reducing the numbers. Review information, prevention tips and resources.

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Engaged coping strategy

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Engaged coping strategy

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Activities will help students:

understand empathy

practice ways to be more understanding

reflect on the effects of empathetic listening

What does it mean to put yourself in someone else's shoes?

How empathetic am I?

How can I better show empathy toward others?

Vocabulary

empathy [em- puh-thee] (noun) the understanding of or the ability to identify with another person's feelings or experiences

Overview

When we put ourselves in another person's shoes, we are often more sensitive to what that person is experiencing and are less likely to tease or bully them. By explicitly teaching students to be more conscious of other people's feelings, we can create a more accepting and respectful school community.

Activities

1. Can you think of a time-maybe during an argument with a friend or when the boy or girl you liked hurt your feelings-when you wished that someone understood how you felt? When we try to relate to what another person is going through, we're being empathetic.

2. Do you think you're an empathetic person? Respond to each statement on Are You Empathetic? with "yes" if it describes something you do or "no" if you don't do what is described.

3. If you answered mostly "yes," you probably do a good job of showing empathy toward other people. The statements you answered "no" to are things you could do to be more empathetic.

4. As a class, use Are You Empathetic? to discuss how you can follow the behaviors suggested to show empathy toward others:

One way you can try to imagine what it feels like being in someone else's shoes is to ask yourself, "How would I feel in this situation?" How else can you try to understand how others feel?

When you listen to others, making eye contact, not interrupting the speaker, and asking follow-up questions can show that you're making a genuine effort to understand what they're going through. What other behaviors might show someone that you are being an empathetic listener?

What can you do to be more attuned to other people's feelings? For instance, when you talk to your friends, how many "you" questions do you ask compared to the number of "I" statements you make?

5. Now you are going to practice what you've learned about being empathetic. You will each receive one character card from Someone Else's Shoes. You are going to complete the rest of the activity as this character, so take some time to think about how he or she feels in the given situation.

6. Pair up with a classmate (be sure your partner's character card is different from yours; if you have the same character, you need to pair up with someone else). As your character, tell your partner about your situation. Your partner should practice being empathetic as he is listening to your story. Then, switch roles: practice being empathetic as your partner, as his character, tells you what he is experiencing.

7. With your partner, discuss how she showed empathy toward you, how it made you feel and what you wish she had done differently. Use statements like, "I could tell you were really listening to me because you maintained eye contact with me during the entire conversation, and that made me feel like you care."

8. Everyone in the class should now stand. Go around the room, sharing something you learned about practicing empathy, sitting after you share. If someone else shares your thought, sit down. Continue around the room until everyone is sitting.

Extension Activity

Create a way to teach others how to be more empathetic (e.g., perform a skit, create a comic strip, write a short story, sing or rap original lyrics).

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Teaching Tolerance provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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One of the most important social skills involved in bullying prevention is empathy--understanding and responding with caring to what others think and feel. Children are less likely to hurt and more likely to help someone if they can imagine themselves in that person's place and can share that person's thoughts and feelings.

Early childhood educators can teach young children to refrain from bullying by helping them learn and practice empathy in direct connection with bullying situations. They can help young children understand how children who are bullied might feel and how they themselves would feel if they were bullied. They can prepare children to become helpful bystanders by helping them recognize when a child who is bullied is feeling hurt and how they might help that child feel better.

The following activities can help children practice the empathy skills they need to refrain from, stop, and prevent bullying.

Activities for Teaching Empathy Skills

Activity 1: Labeling Feelings

Ask children to describe and label how they might feel in these three different bullying situations:

Explain that bullying can lead to strong feelings, such as anger, frustration, and fear. While it's okay to feel these feelings, it's never okay to react by doing violent things, such as intentionally hurting someone. Say that if we all work together to prevent and stop bullying, no one in our group will ever need to experience these feelings as a result of bullying.

Activity 2: Different and Similar

Discuss the man ways that children are different from one another. Prompt them with examples, if needed.

Ask, "What would our group be like if we were all the same?"

Elicit that while at first it might be fun, since we'd all agree on everything, eventually it would get boring, since we would never try anything new, every race would end in a tie, etc. Explain how the differences among us make our group stronger, more interesting, and better able to do different things. Discuss the fact that bullies may bully other children simply because they are different-they try to make differences seem like bad things or weaknesses, rather than the strengths they are.

Now discuss the many ways children are similar to one another. For example: All children eat, sleep, grow, and have feelings. And, most importantly, all children feel hurt when they are bullied.

Summarize by explaining that we should all agree to appreciate our differences, recognize that no one likes to be bullied, and never bully someone simply because he or she is different.

Activity 3: Helping Others Feel Better

First, use these questions to discuss with the group what children can do to help others feel better:
1. How can you know how someone else feels?
Possible answers: Listen to what they say, ask them how they feel, look closely at their face and body, watch what they do
2. How can we recognize when another child is feeling bad or left out?
Possible answers: Making a sad face, not laughing when others laugh, crying, not looking at anyone, playing alone
3. How can we cheer up children who feel bad and help them feel better?
Possible answers: Pay attention to them, pat them on the back, ask them if they'd like to play with you

Next, use role-playing to help children practice recognizing a child who is feeling hurt and helping the child feel better:

Discuss with the group how the bystanders could tell that the bullied child was feeling hurt and how the bystanders made the bullied child feel better.

Activity 4: Acts of Kindness

Discuss how an act of kindness is the opposite of bullying because it helps another person feel good instead of bad--it gives a person a good feeling rather than takes away a good feeling. Ask children to describe one nice thing they did for someone else, how it made the other person feel, and how it made them feel. Have each child plan one act of kindness that he or she will do that day for someone else in the group.

At the end of the day, have children report on their acts of kindness. Ask:

Conclude the activity by pointing out that doing an act of kindness is not only a great thing to do for someone else, it makes you feel good, too!

Activity 5: The Golden Rule

Ask the children if they've heard of the Golden Rule: "Do to others as you would want them to do to you." Point out that this rule could also be phrased as "Don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you." Ask them if children who bully are caring about other children's feelings and treating other children the way they themselves want to be treated. Discuss examples of bullying-related things they would not want other children to do to them and why they would not do those things to others. For example:

Then discuss things that they would like another child to do for them and that they might do for another child in return. For example:

I'd like someone to invite me to play, so I will invite someone to play.

I'd like someone to tell me that I drew a great picture, so I will tell someone that he or she drew a great picture.

End the activity by reminding the group to treat other children the way they would want to be treated.

Discuss the ways that bullying behavior leads both the child who bullies and the child who is bullied to disrespect each other and feel like enemies, rather than friends. Then use pictures, stories, puppets, or other concrete props to model examples of the many ways that children and adults can show that they care about other's feelings and can help each other. Discuss how caring behaviors make both the giver and the receiver feel happy and good.

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One of the most important social skills involved in bullying prevention is empathy--understanding and responding with caring to what others think and feel. Children are less likely to hurt and more likely to help someone if they can imagine themselves in that person's place and can share that person's thoughts and feelings.

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Bullying is about power. Children will experiment with their power and push boundaries, this is a natural part of growing up, but sometimes it may lead to bullying. When addressing a child who has bullied, the important thing is to help them learn from the experience. Consequences that teach rather than punish provide a clear message that bullying is unacceptable while helping kids understand the impact of their actions on others.

When children bully, their privileges can be withdrawn and replaced by an instructive activity from this list of suggestions below:

How To Encourage Empathy

Help your children identify and label feelings of shame, embarrassment, anger, fear or sadness in themselves and in others.

Have your children draw a picture of what they think it must feel like to be bullied. Talk about the feelings that children who are bullied might feel.

Have your children talk with you, a sibling, or another adult about their bullying experiences and the impact it had on them.

Have your children watch a movie about bullying (e.g., Mean Girls, Back to the Future) and encourage them to focus on the feelings of the victimized person. Help them to identify these feelings by looking out for facial expressions, body posture, and tone of voice.

Have your children identify instances of bullying in the media (e.g., television, newspapers, radio, magazines, websites) and talk with them about their reactions to these instances.

Talk with your children about their own strengths and weaknesses and how they can use power to help, not hurt, others.

How To Make Amends

Bullying is wrong and hurtful. It is a relationship problem that requires a relationship solution. The goal is to repair the relationship in a way that is genuine and caring and restore the relationship to a respectful foundation. Sometimes children are not at a point where they are able to restore a relationship - but they do need to respect other children and their right to feel safe.

If your children can restore the relationship in a genuine way, without being forced, help them find a way to make amends.

If they are sorry for their behaviour and genuinely want to make amends, have your children write a letter or card of apology to the children who were victimized.

Encourage your children to make a verbal apology that includes taking responsibility for the behaviour and indicating what they will do to ensure the children who were victimized feel better. It is important that the children who were victimized want to participate in this process and that the apology is given privately rather than publicly. Apologies conducted in front of others can leave both children feeling embarrassed.

Encourage your children to repair or restore property or personal belongings that were damaged as a result of the bullying.

How To Empower Your Child With Kindness And Positive Activities

Everyone needs to feel that they are being effective in the world and have the power to make things happen, including children and youth. This is what we mean by empowerment. The goal is to help children identify and use their power in positive ways that help and support others.

Encourage your children to perform 5 acts of kindness and describe how they felt after completing each act.

Encourage your children to observe other children in school or individuals in the community and look for acts of kindness. Have your children describe what they observed and how they think the people felt.

Identify your children's strengths and abilities and provide them with opportunities to highlight these skills in ways that help others. For example, if your children excel at soccer, get them to teach or practice with younger children or siblings.

When you are addressing children who have bullied, it is essential that you are constructive and avoid using your power aggressively. If you model bullying for your children, it will be difficult for them to develop healthy relationships.

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Bullying is about power. Children will experiment with their power and push boundaries, this is a natural part of growing up, but sometimes it may lead to bullying. When addressing a child who has bullied, the important thing is to help them learn from the experience.

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a problem-solving tool to help deal with emotions and cope with the stresses encountered both on and off campus

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Life as a student can be stressful - assignments, part-time jobs, sports, clubs, relationships, family responsibilities. In fact, during your years as a student, you will face some of the most intense pressures of any point in your life. Stress can take a toll on your mind, weighing you down and even making you ill, so it's important to take action to stay healthy. That's what Healthy Minds is all about.

Healthy Minds is a problem-solving tool to help deal with emotions and cope with the stresses you encounter both on and off campus. The goal: Keeping your mind healthy.

Healthy Minds was developed by The Royal thanks to a donation by D.I.F.D. The Royal is one of Canada's foremost mental health care and academic health science centres. Its mandate is simple: to help more people living with mental illness into recovery faster.

Mood Tracker

Track your mood regularly.

Set daily reminders to check in on yourself.

Activities

Relax with the Breathe activity.

Keep track of your goals with the Problem Solving activity and iCal integration.

Learn how to cope with stress using the
Stress Buster activity.

Journal

Write a journal entry to express your feelings.

Capture the moment by adding a photo.

Revisit previous entries on your timeline.

Together, all of these things can help protect your mental health
so you can make the most out of student life (and beyond!).

Share this App!

Learn more about coping with stress, visit The Royal

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HealthyMinds is a problem-solving tool to help deal with emotions and cope with the stresses you encounter both on and off campus.

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Engaged coping strategy

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There is a longitudinal increase in empathic concern across individuals’ transition to adolescence between the ages of 10 and 13. Individuals who endured more rapid change may become particularly sensitive to others’ responses to stress, based on insights from their own experiences, and therefore have become more cognitively and emotionally empathic.

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When placed under a peer stress situation, students who were physiologically better regulated employed more engaged coping responses, such as problem solving, and emotion regulation, and had a much higher teacher-reported social competence score, whereas students who were more physiologically vulnerable adopted disengaged coping responses, such as distraction, denial, avoidance, and scored much lower in social competence.

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Grade 5 and 7 Specific Expectation C2.4
Describe emotional and interpersonal stresses related to puberty, and identify strategies that they can apply to manage stress, build resilience, and enhance their mental health and emotional well- being  [PS]

Living Skills across grade levels
PS 1.2 use adaptive, management, and coping skills to help them respond to the various challenges they encounter as they participate in physical activities, develop movement competence, and acquire knowledge and skills related to healthy living

IS 1.4 apply relationship and social skills as they participate in physical activities, develop movement competence, and acquire knowledge and skills related to healthy living to help them interact positively with others, build healthy relationships, and become effective team members

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Preadolescents' experience of peer stress

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Preadolescents' experience of peer stress

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Individuals in their preadolescence years (aged 10-13) are in a time of social reorientation, characterized by experiencing higher levels of peer stress as compared to their childhood years, and an increase in empathic ability. Such changes are related to the onset of puberty and the accompanying physiological, cognitive and emotional changes preadolescents experience.
- Physiological change: Puberty-related hormonal changes; heightened physiological responses (e.g., blood pressure) to social performance and exclusion challenges
- Cognitive change: Greater ability to understand the mental states of other (i.e., mentalizing)
- Emotional change: Greater ability to share or “mirror” the emotions and pain of others