Stress is something many people struggle with. Although stress is mostly seen in people during their late teens and early twenties this doesn’t mean that people in their early teens don’t have stressful things to worry about, Many people disregard teens’ stress because they believe that they don’t have many things to worry about or that their things aren’t as important. However, it is the complete opposite. There are many reasons why teens are very stressed out. They all vary from person to person because people have different lives. Some examples of why teens get stressed out are parents pressure their kids to do well in school or students pressure themselves to prove something to their parents and peers. Students also have after-school activities such as sports which can cause stress along with body image issues and many other factors that lead to stress.
Parents pressuring their kids to do well in school is one of the most common sources of stress in teens today. Every parent has pressured their kid at least once without even realizing it. Yes, every parent wants their kids to do well in school and get good grades; however, they need to consider the class level. For example, students take AP/DE classes. AP which stands for Advanced Placement. AP classes are college-level courses offered to high school students. These classes are more challenging than regular high school classes since not only do they have to take a test at the end of the class to receive college credit, but it’s also much more academically challenging for the students. DE stands for dual enrollment. These dual enrollment classes are yet again college-level classes. These classes have a fee that you pay to get an automatic college credit assuming you pass the class. Although Parents pressuring their kids to do well in school is a big contributor to the sources of stress in teens, the teens are also at fault. Every single one of us has goals that we set for ourselves. However, some students put too much pressure on themselves causing them to not be able to handle everything coming their way.
Stress can also be caused by after-school sports. Many teens have after-school sports. These sports can be very stressful because they add more stuff to your schedule and they can also interfere with things you might need to do for school. Depending on the type of sport that the students might be involved in they have practice, games, and conditioning. Many sports have practice every day after school which lessens the time to be able to do homework, projects, etc. Since being in sports is very physically challenging it also takes a toll on your mental health. The reason that sports take a toll on your mental health is sometimes due to the coaches. Coaches want the best for you however they sometimes push you to your limit and past your limit too. This can be very mentally challenging due to the fact many athletes want to impress their coaches, friends, and family members. Since the athletes themselves want to prove to their coaches that they have the most potential on the team they push themselves and this can cause them to get overstimulated and stressed.
A final reason that students may be stressed is due to self-image issues. Many kids start to get their first phone in middle school around the age of 11-14 depending on your parents. Once these students start to get their first phone they start to discover a whole new life. They start to see all these people online who are categorized as perfect or as beautiful. This doesn’t just go for females; this also applies to males. People on social media start posting many things that they believe should be the social standard for both guys and girls. Self-image issues are mostly seen in girls because they see people on social media and want to be just like them. Women tend to be more dissatisfied with their appearance because of what’s seen on social media and what other people say they need to look like. Close family and friends often have a big role in this since they think that they are doing the right thing in pointing out their imperfections/insecurities. However, this does more harm than good because it can cause people to lower their self-esteem. It can also lead to eating disorders and many other disorders.
At the end of the day, not every teen’s stress can be taken away with a wave of a wand; however, if we understand them and what they are going through we can help them. This is to help adults understand that although we are young we can still have major problems that affect our everyday life. Stress is a very real thing that everyone can experience, not just adults, so if adults take the time to understand us, they will see that we have problems, too.
