Puberty may hide rising anxiety in children as parent awareness lags

Starting middle school brings big changes—new schools, heavier workloads, shifting friendships. These changes are easy for parents to see. But alongside them, something less visible may be happening: a rise in anxiety linked to puberty. In a new study led by FIU psychology postdoctoral associate Amanda Baker and published in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, researchers found that as children move through puberty, they report increasing anxiety while parents' perceptions of their child's anxiety remain relatively unchanged.