What Are the Causes of Troubled Children?

Some children are troubled for various reasons such as a parent's death or divorce, self-esteem issues, rejection from their peers or drug abuse. The important thing is that we not ignore them but seek out ways to help them overcome these obstacles.

A Parent's Death or Divorce

• When a child loses a parent through death or divorce, he or she loses a major part of his or her security and this causes emotional pain. The child may feel abandoned and even angry about what happened to him or her..

Lack of Parental Involvement

• Sometimes both parents may live in the home with the child, but they may not be there emotionally. For example, a businessman may spend more time on his cell phone and at work, and he frequently misses his children's school games or other activities. This rejection leads to anger, fear and isolation for the child.

Abuse

• When a child is abused physically or sexually, he or she lashes out in anger towards parents, teachers and classmates. In cases where the parent won't believe the child, he or she turns to drugs, illicit sex or eating disorders to numb the pain of the abuse and parent's rejection.

Social Isolation

• Some children become troubled due the isolation they feel due to society's treatment of them. For example, someone who struggles with a severe learning disability sometimes faces ridicule from students and misunderstanding from school administrators. He then internalizes this and sees himself as not smart enough.

Potential

• There is hope for troubled children. Some ways of reaching out to them include mentoring them, including them in school and neighborhood activities, assisting them financially in serious cases and advocating for them through local non-profit groups.