Understanding Stranger Anxiety in Infants and Young Children

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The emotional distress that infants and young children show when they are approached by a very unfamiliar person is known as stranger anxiety. It’s perfectly normal and is an adaptive developmental achievement in a child's life. The first 6 months of an infant’s life, stranger anxiety is rare. My guess is that it’s because it’s too early in their lives to cling on to the parents or even be fully aware of their surroundings. But as they get older it’s quite common by about 8 months, and reaches its high point around the child's first birthday. Just in puberty, girls seem display this anxiety just a little slightly earlier than boys. Research shows that stranger anxiety is universal cross-culturally. Among most infants, it is signaled by a host of infant behaviors. These behaviors …show more content…

On the other hand, Infants who are securely attached tend to have caregivers who are sensitive and responsive to their infants' emotional signals, while infants who are insecurely attached tend to have caregivers who are either inconsistently sensitive or responsive to their infants' emotional signals or ignore their infants' signals altogether. The frequency and severity of stranger anxiety are influenced by a few factors. Infants tend to show greater stranger anxiety when the caregiver is not present. When a stranger is either tall, unattractive, male, approaches quickly, or touches them. Another scenario is the infant is physically restrained like in a high chair or car seat. I know parents often wonder how the rate and severity of stranger anxiety can be minimized. Doing some research I found that babies tend to show fewer negative displays if the stranger slowly approaches them and does not tower over them. They if the stranger approaches them friendly, playing with them like

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