What are the Causes of Teen Stress

What are the Causes of Teen Stress

What are the main causes of teen stress in our society nowadays? Why has becoming a teenager become so stressful?

The causes of teen stress? There are many causes but there is one main underlying cause that I see at the moment.

Society is more stressed. There is more pressure to succeed, to be a 'good' child, teenager, human.

And this is reflected back on our children.

They feel the pressure. Of course they do. They are even more sensitive than we are!

When society is stressed this rubs off on our kids.

When we bring our problems home every day, they feel them. They don't necessarily understand what is going on, but they feel there is something wrong.

When we have huge expectations put on us as adults, some of these expectations fall onto our children.

And a lot of adults are really tough on themselves and they are therefore overly tough on their children.

The Causes of Teen Stress

The following is a list of the main causes of teen stress that I feel are big in society today:

1. Society is more stressed out

As mentioned above, due to the fact that society is more stressed out, so our teenagers become more stressed out as well.

They feel the pressure to succeed just as we do.

Teenagers have to decide earlier and earlier what career path they have to take.

Exam results become even more important.

And parents' expectations on top of all this can lead to a lot of stress.

2. Peer Pressure

I remember from my time as a teenager that there was a huge pressure to conform.

You had to wear the right clothes, do the right sports, be with the right people.

And if you weren't... We all know what happens to 'those' people because most of us were in that category at one point or another.

If we are really honest with ourselves most of us didn't really 'fit' in. Even the 'cool' people didn't feel like they were fitting in because they were conforming as well.

The amazing illusion of modern society is that we all have to be popular, liked, or cool but most of the population is not like that.

It's advertising's way of making us feel we should buy the latest product or do the latest 'thing'.

Modern media and advertising have a lot to answer for by the way it makes us feel.

I lived with a man who studied media psychology. He said that he gave up the course when he realized that companies were actually targeting adverts at babies and young children.

So the 'us and them' syndrome is hammered into us from a very young age.

And as a teenager when we feel 'apart' from the 'in' crowd, it hurts. It creates stress. We all want to be liked and be happy. That is a basic human desire.

So as a cause of teen stress, peer pressure and the need to conform ranks up there highly.

3. Puberty

Puberty is another one of the big causes of teen stress. The body, mind and emotions change. Sometimes overnight.

And in a lot of cases we have no idea as teenagers how to cope with them.

I remember hitting puberty and nearly exploding emotionally. I fell in love with older girls who were flirting with me, and I could hardly think!

I hurt like I'd never hurt before in my life and I had no idea what was going on! No one pointed this out to me!

I remember the Saturday nights sitting crying outside the school disco after being rejected by another girl. Screaming and crying, 'What the hell is wrong with me! I hate this!'

And no one had warned me about this. Okay, the body will change, I got that bit, but the emotions and the mind... I was not ready and not prepared for that.

So puberty is a huge shock for teenagers and is a huge cause of teen stress.

These are some of the main causes of teen stress in society at the moment.

Being stressed in not something that is limited to just adults. Our children are also affected by stress.

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