Children

Children sometimes need psychological help, just like adults do. Treatment typically begins when parents, teachers, or school counselors notice that children aren’t functioning as well as they could.

Psychologists can help children cope with such problems as anxiety and depression, hyperactivity, conflicts with parents, and stressful events like divorce or a parent’s death.

Adapted from the Encyclopedia of Psychology

Resources from APA

New research on Black girlhood expands developmental science

Engaging Black girls as partners in studying their own experiences

What AI is doing to young brains

Psychologists are untangling how AI use may shape the next generation

two children sitting on bench outside school building

Why extreme heat matters for schools

Recommendations for helping school communities respond to extreme heat

Teacher assisting students with using their tablets in class.

Children’s and adolescents’ learning with educational technology

10 research-based recommendations for making educational technology decisions that protect and support children's learning, development, and well-being

More resources about children

What APA is doing

Advocacy

Children, youth, and families

APA Services advocates for policies to prevent children’s exposure to violence and expand access to treatment and essential services for children who have experienced violence.

Offices

Children, youth, and families portfolio

The Children, Youth, and Families office aims to advance the creation, communication, and application of psychological knowledge on child development issues to benefit society and improve the lives of all children and their families.

teacher and student in preschool classroom

Divisions

Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice

APA’s Division 37 is committed to the application of psychological knowledge to advocacy, social justice, service delivery, and public policies affecting children, youth, and families in a diverse and inclusive society.

Divisions

Society for Couple and Family Psychology

APA’s Division 43 provides a home for psychologists interested in families in their many forms. Clinical, scientific, educational, and public policy perspectives are well represented in the wide range of divisional activities.