Stress is a type of feeling that is brought about as a reaction to something in particular. The teenage years seem to be a stressful time for some youngsters for an array of reasons such as school pressures and changes in their lives. Symptoms of teenage stress can be cognitive such as troubles concentrating or racing thoughts, emotional such as moodiness or sense of isolation, behavioral such as changes in appetite or problems with sleep and physical such as rapid heartbeat or dizziness. And you mustn’t forget about those extremely fun hormonal changes we all go through during the teenage years.
School pressures can be extremely overwhelming for most teenagers. The demands on academic areas as well as extracurricular activities can cause a great deal of stress. It is important to ensure that teens are not taking on any more than they can handle. Teens need to cut out time for not only studying and game schedules but relaxation and time with friends as well. The pressure is there on a daily basis for them to complete homework assignments and class projects as well as study for exams.
Lifestyle changes may cause stress in some teenagers. For the most part, teens like to have some sort of schedule since it provides them with a sense of structure. When changes to these schedules occur it can be downright stressful. Lifestyle changes include things such as divorce, death of a family member or attending a new school.
Family life has a huge impact on the stresses of a teenager. Common stressors include parents constantly arguing, changes in the family’s financial status or a strained relationship with their siblings. Many times the teenager is not the cause of these stressors but the event itself still affects their life overall.
A sense of loss is another cause of teenage stress. It is important for teenagers to talk about their loss to help lessen the stress somewhat. A teenage girl may feel a sense of loss if she splits with her boyfriend or even her best friend. She may avoid attending school or may have a lower self-esteem because of this. Other things include coping with the death of a family member or close friend or it can also be something like leaving the cheerleading squad or football team.
If you are a teenager with a considerable amount of unmanageable stress, don’t be afraid to reach out to someone to talk to. You’d be surprised how talking to someone about your stress can lift a weight off of your shoulders. And, you may even feel less stressed!
My 17 year old step son has lots of school stress. I feel bad.
I feel like the world is getting more stressful to manage. Teenagers shouldn’t have that much stress, but they do.
I am hoping my girls won’t get stressed out about school and friends when they get older but it is a learning process. I hope it doesn’t stress me out.
My sister is 17 and that kid has so much stress. I never let things get to me like she does!
I agree ith all of these! Teenagers have a ton of stress, I remember those days!
School can definitely be stressful for teenagers. It’s important to help them out before the stress gets to be too much for them to handle.
My 13 year-old son has a lot of school stress: Lots of homework. Besides he commutes everyday for one hour both ways
Stress as a teenager can be overwhelming and have disastrous consequences. It’s nice for them to have a healthy outlet outside of school.
Great points and tips – my son is all grown up – but in High School, I actually requested he be put in their smaller class that was for Troubled Teens – he would stand up for himself by getting in fights with kids that felt the need to keep picking (fortunately he had a couple hrs of karate) – and he blossomed in the smaller classes
These are good things to watch out for in the lives of teens we know, thank you!
Stress can happen at any age as this post highlights. Thanks for the information
I can’t even imagine being a teenager today. I think they have so much more stress than we did when we were that age.
My daughter has just started getting in a lot of college information. I know the pressures of school are hitting her hard right now. I just wish there was more I could do to ease her mind. The next 2 years are going to be brutal!
My oldest daughter is not far off from being a teenager I am worried about how she will handle all the pressures that come with it.
This is helpful. I will soon have a teenager. I remember all the stress I dealt with but a lot was due to home life and death of my mom so this is great info!
Teenage stress is so common in today’s world where we live a machine life loaded with pressure & worries most times. In most cases School Pressure & Lifestyle changes play a major role in causing too much stress to teens. And I agree, sharing your stress does a lot of wonder.
As a middle school teacher, I know how much stress can impact teenagers. It’s important to address the roots of this stress early on.
I have two teenagers at home. I would not want to be a teenager again. There are a lot more things to deal with for today’s adolescents . I am thankful that we did not have Social Media when we were growing up.
Kiddo is going to be 10 tomorrow. These last few months have been really hard on her due to some issues with her mom and transferring to live with us. She is doing so much better though. Its hard, but they have to go through things and learn about life even though you just want to take all that stress away from them.
I have a teen at home. I think I agree with Ann on this one, I’m glad we didn’ t have social media back in the day too.