Stress and teenagers

Teen stress is natural and normal, to a point.

As teenagers grow up, the experiences of emotional and physical stress intensifies as a natural part of development. Natural causes of stress like hormonal and physical or bodily changes are considered very stressful; combine these normal stressors with outside causes like divorce and extreme academic or peer pressure, and stress levels can climb to unhealthy highs.

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Being a teenager is not as easy as the movies make it seem.

Teenagers actually do have it pretty rough. They are coping with a lot of stressors at once and this combination often makes the teen experience very stressful. Pressures come from all sides: academic pressure from teachers, family pressure from parents and siblings, peer pressure from classmates, even financial pressure from college applications. All of these stressors together make for a difficult few years.

Popular culture does not have a benign influence on teens.

Unfortunately, teenagers deal with some pressures that are less defined than the ones mentioned earlier. Movies, music and magazines that are geared toward teenagers, male and female, push an image that is notoriously unrealistic. Most teenagers experience a need to conform to these images though most normal teenagers cannot possibly measure up to the pop stars who grace album covers. Unhealthy and recurring thought patterns and behaviors are often an unfortunate result.

Stress and hormones are to blame for many teenage mood swings.

Puberty brings with it a number of challenges; unfortunately, hormones are not even the least of them. Sex hormones that cause physical changes like hair growth and dreaded body odor also bring a flurry of confusing feelings and reactions. The combined effects of internal changes and external stressors can be very hard for teenagers to deal with.

Some

A measure of crankiness and moodiness does seem to characterize the teen years. However, stress symptoms may be scattered among the irritated comments and snappy remarks. Pay special attention to these symptoms: a marked increase in physical complaints, withdrawal from typical social interactions amongst friends or family, increased irritability, anger or emotional lability, excessive worrying, and an inability to sleep.