These behaviors are not used to calm a child as with a nervous habit, because they are not in the child's control. While their presence may seem as if the child is experiencing stress, they generally are not direct responses to stress or anxiety. They can happen randomly. Tics are inherited. One child in eight develops a tic.
Boys get tics four times more often than girls.
Tic behaviors may disappear after a few weeks or months. They may never come back or may reappear off and on. Tourette Syndrome is a more severe case of tics that can carry over into adulthood. These tics occur in multiple forms and can be suppressed for short times from minutes to hours. Doing so may make them worse for a while afterwards.