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Abigail Boyer

Mrs. Morean

English 1201

November 1, 2021

Why Are Teenagers More Stressed Today?

The question is not whether or not teenagers are more stressed today, it is why are

they more stressed today than in generations past? Many adults today doubt or misunderstand

the level of stress high schoolers deal with on a daily basis. The truth of the matter is, there

are many factors nowadays that cause teenagers to be more prone to stress. I believe that

there are three main factors that can contribute to stress: school pressures, social media, and

state of mind.

Growing up, we were taught to be perfect at a very young age. Starting from when we

were about 8 years old, we had to take home our planners every night for our parents to sign

and would get punished if we forgot. This was supposed to teach us at a young age that we

need to be organized, but instead, this taught us to stress if we forget a simple task. Fast

forward to a few years later, as middle schoolers watching CNN student news every single

day in 6th grade. At just 11 years old we had more knowledge about what was going on in the

world than some of our parents. Before this, I had very little knowledge about politics and

world issues, which should be expected for an 11-year-old kid. But now, not only did I know

what was going on, but I also knew every negative aspect of what was going on. (Collins)

Being exposed to these terrible world events causes children to experience stress, anxiety, and

fear. Kids who are frequently exposed to violence on the news are also prone to fear,

desensitization, and even aggressive and violent behaviors.

Fast forward to being a freshman in high school. Before the school year had begun, a

meeting was held for all of the freshman students and their parents with the principles,
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teachers, and counselors. They encouraged parents to push their students to strive for

greatness. They talked about how we as students should know what college major we want to

pursue now so that we can build our schedule around it and take classes according to this

degree. 14-year-old kids were expected to know what career they want to pursue. This is a lot

of pressure for these young kids and causes them to stress early about what college to get into

and what major they should think about pursuing. 69% of students reported one of their

stressors being whether or not they get into a good college and/or deciding what to do after

high school (Smith).

The pressure of teachers in every class to prioritize their class every night by doing

hours of homework and studying. Not only academically, but in extracurricular and

athletics. My high school chemistry teacher told our class that the reason we were all not

passing her class was that we didn’t study enough and that if we each spent at least two hours

every night studying chemistry we could pass her class. We all thought that she was joking

but she was dead serious. For anyone who didn’t devote their whole life after school to

learning chemistry, that class was extremely difficult. If we had that mindset for every class,

that would be an additional at least 14 hours after school studying for all of our classes. Each

teacher puts an enormous amount of pressure on their students, constantly telling their

students how their class is the most important and should be prioritized about their other

classes.

This pressure to succeed does not just apply in academics, but in sports as well for

teens. Many teenagers have a sport or activity that they enjoy doing. For a lot of people, their

after-school sport is more to them than just a pastime. It is their passion, their way of life,

their therapy, their stress reliever, but in some cases also their stressor. For people who take

great pride in how they perform, there can be a lot of pressure on them when they are playing

their sport. Especially when there are other things on the line like scholarships. Even if you
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aren’t passionate about your sport, it is not just an after-school pastime anymore. Any sport is

a major time commitment nowadays. They have year-round after-school practices,

conditioning, personal lessons/training, etc. To have any chance of playing the sport you

enjoy you need to commit to it full time. All of these practices and training sessions that

students have to keep up with in addition to their studies, they have no time to be social or

have a life outside of school in general.

This pressure to be perfect causes kids to build up stress and eventually burn out. My

sister was a straight-A student her whole life and pushed herself to work hard in all of her

classes. Nothing meant more to her than her academic achievements, she took great pride in

her education. That was, until her freshman year of high school. She got mono and ended up

missing a lot of school towards the end of the year. She missed a lot of assignments and had a

hard time catching up. All of the stress eventually got to her and she burned out. For the rest

of high school, she had no care or desire to try her hardest for any of her classes. Academics

were no longer as important to her as they were before she got sick. She was just an average

student and barely tried at all. You would think that her life totally fell apart after she stopped

caring so much about her grades, but something interesting happened.

My sister’s life got so much better overall after she stopped caring so much about

school. Despite what we have been taught our whole lives, your grades don’t matter.

Stressing over all of your classes does you no good at the end of the day. She may not have

graduated high school at the top of her class with an honors diploma, but with her incredibly

strong work ethic, she took enough classes from her senior year (2020-2021) to now so that

she can graduate college with a bachelor’s degree, double majoring in business

administration and marketing and a minor in management and leadership at 18 years old this

spring. And this whole time she has not stressed over one single class. She completely

changed her perspective on school and life and learned to have a positive outlook on all
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things and to most importantly not care. For some people this may be tough to hear, seeing as

we have been taught to care about school our whole life, but I believe that the whole school

environment is toxic and is one of teenagers biggest stressors.

Students have it programmed into their brains from a young age that they need to do

well in school and try their absolute hardest to succeed in life. While it is important to try

your hardest in everything that you do, there is absolutely no need to freak out over getting a

D on one of your tests. Teachers are constantly shoving this garbage down students throats

that if they get one bad grade they won’t be able to go to a good college and get a good job

and overall succeed in life. When in reality, you don’t need to be at the top of your class to

have a successful life, and the sooner we teach our students that, the less stressed they can be.

School can be a toxic, stress-inducing environment. College acceptance rates have

been declining over the years due to the excessive applications and the average student is

working harder now than they were 30 years ago. But what about stressors from outside of

school being brought into that high school environment? Social media is just impossible to

avoid in this day and age. Almost everyone who has a cell phone has some sort of form of

social media. There is so much pressure to be involved and active on social media and it can

give teenagers unrealistic expectations that can cause teenagers to be insecure in their

self-image. Not to mention all of the bullying that happens on social media where teachers

can’t do anything about it since it is outside of school and not their problem. And let us not

forget how video games, some kids coping mechanisms, can actually increase their stress.

Social media is definitely a leading stressor when it comes to teenagers.

Nowadays, there are more social media apps and websites that any one person can

keep up with. Just off the top of my head, there is Tik Tok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook,

Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and so many more. People are so focused on keeping their

streaks on Snapchat and constantly being active by posting on Tik Tok and Instagram. It is
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stressful keeping up with it all. Especially when you have friends who expect you to snap

them back fast and like and comment on all of their posts the second they post to social

media. I have had friends come up to me angry because I didn’t like their recent Tik Tok

thinking that I was being a bad friend when in actuality, I hadn’t had the chance to see their

Tik Tok. It is a lot of pressure to keep up with what your friends are doing online.

Social media is filled with models and influencers who all have the “perfect body”.

We see these girls online and automatically think that we are not as pretty as them or as thin

as them or have as nice of clothing as them. It is a lot of pressure on teens to meet these

unrealistic expectations that celebrities and influencers are pushing onto teenagers and in

unhealthy ways. For instance, we see people like Khloe Kardashian in an interview talking

about how she is so tired of seeing people complain about their bodies and not work hard to

actually achieve a better body when in actuality she had surgeries to alter her body. This gives

girls unrealistic body expectations when celebrities are not honest about how they achieved

their looks. This causes many teenagers to feel like a failure when they do the workouts and

diet tips that their favorite celebrities claimed helped them lose weight and see no results

because these same celebrities failed to mention the many unaffordable surgeries they had

gotten to really achieve their look.

When you think of bullying, you may think of it in the movies when students are

beating up other students in the hallways and taking their lunch money for no reason. While

bullying like that still exists today, the majority of bullying today is online. Cyberbullying can

be much more harmful than regular bullying because, unlike regular bullying, it is out there

for the whole world to see forever. If someone called you something mean in person, it may

hurt for a little bit but everyone would forget about it eventually. Whereas with

cyberbullying, if someone posted something mean and hurtful about you it is a lot harder to

just walk away from it. You can not just forget all of the hurtful things someone says about
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you online because they are there forever. Anyone in the world can see what people are

saying about you at any moment and that kind of stress can tear a student about.

With all of these stressors in a teenager’s life, they look for coping mechanisms

anywhere they can get them. Many teens turn to video games as a great way to relieve stress,

but some games may be causing the opposite effect (Enayati). Video games may in fact cause

teens and kids to experience heightened stress levels. This can be very harmful to teens who

play games for two to four hours at a time. And these levels of chronically high stress can in

fact cause conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol and blood pressure, diabetes,

obesity, depression, and many others. Like many things, video games are all about balance

and if you don’t have a good balance it could have some serious negative side effects.

The high school years are when students are undergoing various stages of puberty that

affect brain development. During puberty, their bodies have neuroendocrine changes that shift

the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is the central stress response system.

When stressed, two hormonal systems are activated: the sympathetic nervous system (‘fight

or flight’ reaction) and the HPA axis (leading to the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone

ACTH and cortisol). Cortisol is responsible for several positive behavioral and physiological

responses to stress. Responses like moving energy stores in the body, enhancing immune

reactions, and increasing learning and memory. But long term or high levels of stress create

an internal environment of prolonged hormone exposure that have negative effects on the

body such as metabolic disorders, impared immune system, and decreased or altered

cognitive function which can be damaging during a time when teenage brains are developing.

This can lead to stress-related dysfunctions during adolescence like anxiety, depression,

mental disorders, and drug abuse.

Teenagers struggle with identity, trying to figure out who they are and who they

would like to be. Developmental psychologist Erik Erikson believed the formation of
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identity to be one of the more important conflicts people face. He states this is a time of

intensive analysis and exploration. But what teenager today has time for intensive analysis

and exploration with the overwhelming daily demands of school, sports/activities, and

relationships? While identity is something that changes as people experience new challenges

and life events, daily stressors teenagers face appear so overwhelming, not allowing time for

reflection and meaningful growth. In a time when teenagers desperately crave to search for

their identity, life keeps getting busier and changing more quickly than they can adapt or

process.

We live in a world full of uncertainties. No matter how much we try to control and

micromanage everything in our surroundings, things happen every single day that our out of

our control. A great example of this is the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Situations like this that

are way out of our control can be stressful because we still do not know what covid has in

store for our future and it is an inevitable fact that covid has taken a toll on the mental health

of our teenagers (Rao). 2021 statistics showed that there was an increase in depression in

teens of 15.3%, a 17% increase in severe depression in teens, a 25.7% increase in anxiety in

teens as well as a 16.7% increase in severe anxiety. And that was just after one month of

lockdown. 81% of teens ages 13-17 have experienced more intense stress during the

Covid-19 pandemic. It is without a doubt that Covid-19 is a major stressor amongst

teenagers.

Especially in today’s Covid environment, teens are being exposed to things that they

should not be exposed to. Parents are exposing their teens to problems in the home which

don’t regard them, like bills being paid, parents’ jobs, work-related stress, salaries and

income, relationship problems. Parents are exposing their kids to all of their stress and it is, as

a result, causing them to carry this stress as well. And all of this stress is just to be piled on

top of their regular school stress that they have to deal with (Bouchrika).
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As you can see, there is an abundance of things that can cause stress in a teenager’s

life. Life is unpredictable and so many things happen in a teenager’s life that they have to just

deal with because unfortunately, teenagers are not taught proper coping mechanisms for

dealing with their stress. They either have unhealthy ways of taking out their stress, like

lashing out at loved ones or random people for no reason. Or, they keep it all inside and let it

build up until one day they just explode or burn out entirely. Teenagers are not prepared for

the levels of stress that they are experiencing and therefore have no experience when it comes

to managing this stress. Children are not taught how to cope with stress in school or at home

so it causes a lot of little explosions or outbursts which are not healthy. Teenagers should be

taught how to cope and properly manage their stress.

There are many methods for how teenagers can manage their stress in a healthy way

(Alvord). For instance, getting on a proper sleep schedule can benefit teens, seeing as they

need to get between eight to ten hours of sleep a night. It is also proven that exercise is a

good stress reliever and children ages six to seventeen should be getting sixty minutes of

exercise every day. Just making time for themselves can be a great way to relieve stress, just

spending time doing a fun, quiet activity that they love. And having a journal to write in

every day can be a great way to relieve stress. Having an outlet to express your feelings is

important when you are a teenager. It is a great way to improve one’s well-being.

As you can see, many things can contribute to a teenager’s stress today. School, social

media, and state of mind can all add stressors to an already challenging high schooler’s daily

life. Adolescence is difficult as it is with hormones and changing bodies. Throw in a little

performance perfection anxiety, pressure to be accepted, identity crisis, problems that may

occur in their home life, life alterations due to Covid culture and the uncertainty that has

followed, and coping inexperience, and now you have the perfect stress storm in today’s teen.

It is no wonder that seven out of ten teens (13 to 17 years) in the USA have named anxiety or
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depression as a major problem among their peers. 75% of U.S. high schoolers expressed

boredom, anger, sadness, fear, or stress while at school. 75% of U.S. high schoolers described

themselves as often or always feeling stressed by schoolwork. Adult support, encouragement,

and understanding are never needed more than it is now with this overwhelmed generation.

While teenagers may claim to be knowledgeable and independent, having everything under

control, in reality, they are struggling to cope with all these stressors and need guidance to

navigate these waters in a way that allows for healthy growth and mental wellness.

Bibliography

Rao, Maya E., and Dhananjai M. Rao. “The Mental Health of High School Students during

the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 1 Jan. 1AD,

www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2021.719539/full.

Alvord, Mary. “How to Help Children and Teens Manage Their Stress.” American

Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, 24 Oct. 2019,

www.apa.org/topics/child-development/stress

Enayati, Amanda. “Do Videogames Cause Stress in Kids? It's Complicated.” MediaShift, 15

Mar. 2013, mediashift.org/2013/03/do-videogames-cause-stress-in-kids-its

-complicated074/

Bouchrika, Imed. “50 Current Student Stress Statistics: 2020/2021 Data, Analysis &

Predictions.” Research.com, Research.com, 10 Sept. 2021,

research.com/education/student-stress-statistics

Divecha, Diana. “Our Teens Are More Stressed than Ever: Why, and What Can You Do
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About It?” Developmental Science, Developmental Science, 15 Apr. 2020,

www.developmentalscience.com/blog/2019/5/7/our-teens-are-more-stressed-than-ever

Bethune, Sophie. “American Psychological Association Survey Shows Teen Stress Rivals

That of Adults.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological

Association, 2014, www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/02/teen-stress

Romeo, Russell D. “The Teenage Brain: The Stress Response and the Adolescent Brain.”

Current Directions in Psychological Science, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr.

2013, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4274618/

Collins, Harper. “News and Children.” American Academy of Child &nAdolescent

Psychiatry, American Academy of Child & Adolescent, Jan. 2019,

https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Childre

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Smith, Kathleen. “6 Common Triggers of Teen Stress.” Psycom, Psycom, Nov. 2020,

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