LA Teens Suffer Rising Stress Levels, USC Study Finds

LOS ANGELES, CA — Teens suffering anxiety over the belief that discrimination is on the rise are more likely to have behavioral problems, depression and substance abuse issues, researchers documented in a study released Monday by the Keck School of Medicine at USC.

Focusing on communities of color and families with limited education around Los Angeles, researchers found a direct correlation between the level of stress and the extremity of teen's behavioral problems. The findings raise concern that discrimination is a growing problem in today's society. In a nutshell, the more the teens worry, the worse their symptoms of substance use, depression and attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms became. The social and political divisions facing the country are taking a toll on the nation's you, researchers concluded.

"Teens who stand to suffer most from prejudice in society are stressed out about the social climate, and our study found that as their concern grew, so too did their behavioral problems," said Adam Leventhal, the study's lead author. "This proved true even for the teens who say they rarely experience discrimination in their own community, suggesting that what's happening in society at large weighs on them. The impact of polarizing social policies on teens' mental health needs to be addressed."

Teens are more and more worried about discrimination. When 2016 began, 29.7 percent of teens were very or extremely worried about societal discrimination, according to the study. Just one year later 34.7 percent were very worried. In some cases, stressed teens were three times as likely as peers to abuse substances. Teens with less educated parents, who went from unconcerned about societal discrimination in 2016 to extremely concerned by 2017, were using marijuana or drinking alcohol at three times the rate of teens whose concern was unchanged during the study.

Significant associations between increased level of concern about discrimination and six different adverse behavioral outcomes were also found, with the associations in minorities or socioeconomically disadvantaged teens stronger in some cases.

"Concern, worry and stress attributed to increasing societal discrimination during the recent socio-politically charged period was common and associated with adverse behavioral outcomes in this adolescent cohort," Leventhal said.

The researchers noted that the Trump administration policies to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, repeal the Affordable Care Act and enact travel bans targeting several foreign countries drew headlines during the study period.

Other events making headlines that could be impacting teens include police violence on minorities, hate crimes against Muslims and backlash to same- sex marriage, according to the researchers. They stressed that they did not independently verify the subjects' self-reported behaviors or obtain mental health diagnoses, and that their study stops short of establishing causal links, instead focusing on the associations between attitudes and behavioral outcomes.

The study was funded by a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

City News Service contributed to this report. Photo: Shutterstock