“Stress is the mental and physical pressure you feel from circumstances perceived as threats, called stressors,” writes Kathiann Kowalski, of Current Health 2 (Stamford). A “circumstance” known to many stressed teens is school. In an interview with David Tabibzadeh, a junior at Palisades Charter High School, Tabibzadeh talks about his experiences with school stress, saying “At times school can be very stressful, because of homework, tests, and the pressure I put on myself to get into a good college.” In Tabibzadeh’s efforts to get into a good college, he is taking 4 AP classes, Honors Physics, a zero period choir class and Independent Living. He says he has “3 to 4 hours” of homework each night. “School stress really puts a toll on my physical health.
I always feel tired since I get very little sleep because I stay up late to finish homework and, since I have to get up super early to get to my zero period class, which starts at 7 a.m.”, Tabibzadeh says. An article published by the Daily Herald, says “An average of 73.5 percent of all students surveyed reported feeling moderate or high levels of daily stress” (Wilson). It is no question that teens are stressed nowadays with the amount of pressure put on them to succeed.
With many school’s concerns for their students to be successful in their futures, they cause their students, to be stressed. The American Psychological Association, created a graph showing that the number teen stress cases started increasing around May of 2013. The graph predicted that the number teen stress cases will increase in the next ten years. Teens being stressed and the effects of teen stress affect many people including, psychologists who receive more patients, the teen’s guardians who deal with the effects of teen stress, and future society who also deals with the effects of teen stress that include substance abuse and high school dropouts. Teen stress is primarily caused by school, in particular the overload of schoolwork, academic competition, and long school days, lead to substance abuse, and mental and physical health issues.
Teen stress is a growing issue and affects many different communities. Teen stress originates from school, so school is where the problem begins. School was created for its attendees to learn basic knowledge needed to survive, like reading and writing which are communication skills, and preliminary math. Without basic knowledge, it is hard to find a job, without a job there is no way to have an income which is needed to have food, shelter, and other basic human necessities. With the cost of living being greater than many people’s income and many jobs being overrun by technology, it is becoming harder to be successful in this economy. The Conversation published an article on May 20, 2015 discussing why some students feel the need to become successful saying, “For some others, it might be a longer-term reason: They might want a good salary and other luxuries in their adult life and believe that the only path to those things would be a good college” (Anderman).
So it is society’s perception that to have a fruitful life, you need to go to a good college and to get into a good college is definitely challenging. Top colleges in the United States, usually accept students with at least 3.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale. To get a good GPA, students will need to complete all their work, do well on tests, and go above and beyond what is expected of them, which includes taking honors classes and even AP classes. Society is advocating for teens to be successful, and to do that they put pressure on them. The pressure that they are applying, is being wrongfully applied, which leads to teens being stressed, therefore leading to the effects of stress.
An over-burden of schoolwork prompts teens to be stressed. Teens want to get good grades, and to do so, they need to complete all their work, in order not to get points deducted from their grade. An article published by Global Data Point, looks into the research of The Harris Study showing that “By comparison, for teenagers causes of pressure include schoolwork (74%)…” (München). When schools give too much work, teens get stressed that they cannot finish the work assigned. They fear if they do not finish the work assigned they get points deducted, therefore lowering their grade, which stresses teens even more because when their grade gets lowered their GPA is also lowered, and then they fear they will not get into a good college. With schoolwork being more than 50% of the of surveyed student’s perception of what they feel pressured by, this shows that reducing the amount of schoolwork being given, will decrease the stress that teenage students feel.
In an article published by the Daily Herald, Patricia Schacht, associate professor of psychology at North Central College says, “‘Things like hefty homework loads, pressure to achieve good grades, and overbooked schedules — all ranked as major contributors to school-related stress — affect teens across the region…’” (Wilson). This quote proves both the claims that schoolwork and grades are contributing factors in the teen stress epidemic, because it is said by an authoritative source. Furthermore, student feel that their peers are the biggest impediment in their race to success.
Academic competition is a contributing factor to the problem of teen stress. Students strive to receive better grades than their peers, creating a competitive atmosphere. The Santa Fe New Mexican writer Sydney Pope writes about academic competition saying, “The documentary Race to Nowhere elaborates on the frustration that teens experience due to their desire to satisfy parents and compete for college admissions” (Pope). Students feel the need to be better than their peers because with the limited spots top colleges and universities have, teens are fearing that the schools will accept their peers and not them. The Classroom published an article about academic competition saying, “Some students feel so much pressure to succeed at academic competitions that they put everything else on hold” (Tucker). When teens focus only on school it causes them to be more stressed because they lose sight of everything else that they enjoy doing. Also, this raises the idea that students don’t even care about what they are learning, they are just trying to pass the test to get a good grade and get into college.
Having too long of a school day, is another reason why teens are stressed. The average school day for many teens starts at 7:40 a.m. and ends at 3:00 p.m. During the school day many students have about six classes, all lasting about 50 minutes each, with a total of 60 minutes of break time, which includes passing periods. This school day is long and tiresome for teens, who then have to come home do the extraneous amounts of homework assigned. In an interview with Orit Monesa, a junior at YULA Girls High School, talks about her long and stressful school day saying, “School is by far the most stressful thing in my life since the school day starts at 7:45 and ends at 4:30, and I have ten classes a day… My usual school day is getting up at 5:40 a.m. to get to school, getting home at 5:30 p.m. because of rush hour traffic, and staying up till 11 p.m. doing homework.” Teens who get overworked at school and feel stressed, then they come home and have to face the mass amounts of work assigned to them at school.
Also, long school days keep teens from doing extracurriculars that are beneficial to their mental and physical health. The Santa Fe New Mexican writes, “Madeline Levine, author and practicing clinical psychologist in California, said, ‘Play is a critical part of the growing mind and growing body’” (Pope). With school’s having longer days it is harder for their students to go to extra curricular activities after school. Teen stress has multiple causes and multiple, devastating effects.
Substance use, like alcohol and drug use, is one of the results of teen stress. It is many people’s question “why is substance abuse among teens increasing?” Many researchers have found one answer to that question to be teen stress. In Marie Wilson’s article published by the Daily Herald on January 31, 2018, she discusses the research done by North Central College and the Naperville nonprofit organization KidsMatter, showing “…concerning coping mechanisms among high-school sophomores, 16 percent of whom reported using alcohol to alleviate stress and 6 percent of whom said they use drugs for that purpose, including marijuana, pain pills, anti-anxiety medications and stimulants” (Wilson).
Drugs and alcohol are known for alleviating pain and helping people forget about their problems. That’s why teens use them, to help alleviate the stress that school is causing them. If school did not cause teens to be stressed then, the substance abuse epidemic would stop increasing as rapidly as it is currently. Teens that use alcohol and drugs to alleviate stress, are adding to the growing teen substance epidemic in the United States. In a graph provided by the CDC, the reported number of teen drug use cases was 5,049, in March of 2018 which is a 6.9 percent increase of 4,721 cases in March of 2017. The CDC predicts an increase in teen drug use, in the next ten years, which is predictable due to the fact that teen stress is also increasing. Mental health issues other than addiction also are an effect of teen stress.
Teens develop mental health issues, as an effect of stress. Through a series of tests and studies, Dr. Joseph Garbely has come up with the theory that stress can change the way the brain functions, causing mental health disorders in teens. In a quote from Global Data Point’s article, he says, “‘It’s a very serious concern because this biological change can place teens at greater risk for mental health disorders as well as substance use and abuse’” (München).This biological change caused by stress is detrimental to success in the future. If teens develop mental health disorders, it will be harder for them to keep a well paying job in the future, therefore they will not be able to have a home or food, and that adds to the growing homelessness crisis and to the hunger issue.
In a Daily Herald, Gina Sharp, president and CEO of Linden Oaks Behavioral Health, says “‘This is detrimental because constant stress can cause difficulty with concentration, focus and functioning’” (Wilson). If students lose the ability to concentrate and function, that puts them at the risk of not being successful in the future do to an impediment, developed at school. So ironically, school puts pressure on its students to succeed, but the pressure that they are applying is causing students to be stressed, the stress is causing students to lose concentration and the ability to function, therefore being detrimental to their student success in the future.
Furthermore, in an article published by the Santa Fe New Mexican, it discusses the consequences of too much stress on teens, saying “The consequences of excessive pressure… includes sleep deprivation, eating disorders, depression, excessive worrying, cheating, burnout and, most severely, suicide attempts, according to studies conducted by Anxiety.org” (Pope). In schools attempts to make their students be successful they stress out their students, therefore causing them to face the effects of stress, some of which cause students to miss school. Missing school is known to be detrimental to student success, for students miss valuable education time. Stress not only causes mental health issues it also causes physical health issues.
As a result of teens being stressed, they develop physical health issues. The author of Current Health 2 (Stamford)’s, article Coping With Stress, writes “The physical consequences of stress can include headaches, heart palpitations, digestion problems, irregular bowel movements, insomnia, skin rashes, muscle pain, and an impaired immune system” (Kowalski). If a student is stressed, they might face these horrible consequences of stress, that can land them in a hospital, which makes them miss valuable school time. Missing school is an impediment to student success. Furthermore, NPR’s, article, School Takes a Toll on Health, Teens and Parents Say, includes a quote from Mary Alvord, a clinical psychologist in Maryland, saying “chronic stress can cause a sense of panic and paralysis…” (Neighmond). Yet again, if a student develops chronic stress, the will have to miss school to recover, further stressing them, and making them miss school.
I would like to see parents and guardians of teens be aware of the signs of teen stress that include anxiousness, outbursts, and nervousness, all of which seem to be typical teenage behavior. With parents and guardians acknowledging their child’s so called typical behavior, they can save their child from the effects of teen stress, before it happens. Also, as reported on by Margaret A. Nemethy, writer for the Florida Today, and board certified Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, “treatments are readily available and the earlier initiated the more effective in relieving symptoms” (Nemethy).
So to rephrase what the writer said, the earlier the signs of teen stress are known, the more effective the treatments would be. I will advocate for Pali to have parent information nights where parents can learn about the symptoms and effects of teen stress, so that they save their child from teen stress and its effects. Also, I would want to make it clear to society that it is acceptable to need a psychologist or a counselor, and that needing some help is not something to be ashamed of because to feel pain is to be human. Furthermore, I would like to say to those who are thinking of turning to poor coping mechanism to deal with teen stress, that it is not worth it to do something to yourself that can’t be undone. Teen stress can be overcome, but addiction and death can not.