Stressed-Out Young Girls at High Risk of Teen Anxiety, Depression

 A new Univerisity of Wisconsin-Madison study shows that young girls exposed to high stress levels have a better chance of suffering anxiety or depression as teenagers.

The UW-M research team recruited 57 young adults to take part in the study before they gave birth. That was back in 1990.

The original goal was to see how working women cope with the challenges of being mothers. The researchers looked at things like emotional and economic pressures facing those young mothers.

But as time went on, researcher Cory Burghy said his colleagues took a closer look at the kids, and how they handled the stresses of home life.

The mothers had stress exams, while the kids had their cortisol levels tested. The brains of those with high cortisol levels at age 4-and-a-half took MRI exams when they were at 18 – and those results, plus interviews, turned up higher than normal levels of depression and anxiety in the girls.

But boys who grew up in similar households did not suffer the same conditions.

Source: WTAQ
http://wtaq.com/news/articles/2012/nov/12/study-stressed-out-young-girls-have-higher-risk-of-teen-anxiety-depression/