Health and Wellness: Students and Stress

The topic of stress is familiar to all of us. The purpose of this article is to increase awareness of the serious issue of stress in our adolescents.

Many people think of stress as primarily an adult problem and associated with work situations, relationship difficulties and family tensions. Research studies indicate that teenagers are experiencing as much or more stress than adults.

An American Psychological Association (APA) study, performed in 2013 reported that teen stress levels are significantly higher than what is thought to be healthy, and exceeded the stress levels reported by adults.

My clinical experience suggests that adolescents are usually aware of feeling stressed but that they tend to underestimate the effect it has on their mental health, their emotional fluctuations, and motivational drives.

Everyone experiences some stress but it can gradually increase to the point where it feels familiar, even normal, and it becomes difficult to identify it as responsible for compromising performance and disrupting a feeling of well being.

It is important for parents and other adults to acknowledge the stress that our world places on teens and that we can and should play a more significant role in helping our adolescents to develop methods of handling stress.

An article in USA Today reports that a national study reveals that “teens are feeling excessively high levels of stress that negatively affect every aspect of their life.”

The report identifies the common signs of interfering stress in teenagers as; an increase in irritability, anger, general anxiety, headaches, sadness, decline in academic motivation, an inability to follow-through on responsibilities, abnormal eating patterns, poor sleep behaviors, substance abuse, and oppositional behavior. The report concluded that interfering stress is affecting over 40% of teens in the USA.

APA repeated studies on the incidence of stress in adolescents in 2014. This study found that 31% reported feeling “overwhelmed and/or depressed as a result of stress.”

Thirty-six percent reported feeling tired and admitted to non-constructive behaviors, such as substance abuse, to try to reduce stress. Historically, the onset of a stress reaction in teenage years has been attributed to the occurrence of a traumatic event in the teenager’s life.

However, recent studies reported in the (Monitor on Psychology, April, 2014) reveal that there is “greater support for the role of chronic strains and daily stressors than major life events as explanations for the development of psychological and behavioral difficulties during adolescence.”

The study, “Confronting Teen Stress, Meeting the Challenge in Baltimore City”, identified, the five primary stressors for teens; “school work (68%), parents (56%), friends’ problems (52%), romantic relationships (48%), and drugs as part of the social scene (48%)“.
This study and others have identified differences between boys and girls in style of handling stress.

The following results were found for teenage boys:

25% avoided or refused to deal with their stress,
23% sought non-constructive ways to distract themselves away from their stress,
17% sought support
35% actively tried to reduce their stress.

On the other hand, when it came to girls:
19% avoided or refused to deal with their stress,
14 % sought non-constructive ways to distract themselves away from their stress,
22% sought support, and
45% actively tried to remove or reduce their stress.

In summary, boys more often used the tools of avoidance and distraction while girls looked for support and actively tried to reduce their stress. Girls also said they experienced more stress than boys, stemming largely from their relationships with boys and friendships with girls. Boys attributed their stress to authority figures, (e.g.—parents and teachers). The studies called for the development of programs to teach girls and boys how to react in a healthy manner towards stress.

Suggestions For Managing Stress:
The basic principle for managing stress is to develop behaviors that will reduce the production of mobilizing adrenalin. This is the same as reducing the time spent in the flight or fight reaction. One recommended way to do this is to learn how to meditate and to spend some time each day in meditation, relaxation exercises such as yoga.

Parents and other adults should help the teenager to assess their limits and to avoid taking on more than they can handle. Over-booking is a surefire recipe for stress. Parents can help by having the teenager analyze his or her schedule and to take something off the plate if there is too much that is not essential.

Everyone often has to distinguish between the “shoulds” and the “musts”. Teenagers often have to be helped to understand that dropping certain activities or goals may not have a significant influence on their life. When they are stretched too thin it’s hard to stay calm and focused. But planning ahead and avoiding overextending, will reduce the amount of stress.

Identifying relationships that seem to cause stress and minimizing or totally avoiding contact with those relationships is important.

If certain topics brought up in social relationships cause stress, one should avoid listening to or becoming involved in those discussions.

Teenagers should be encouraged to express their feelings rather than keeping them bottled up. They may need help to understand how to safely and constructively express certain feelings. The simple act of expressing what you’re going through can be freeing and re-assuring, even if there’s nothing you can do to alter the stressful situation.

Parents should encouraging the sharing of feelings with them or if appropriate with someone in a counseling role. We must help our teenagers to understand that we regard sharing feelings as a strength and not a weakness.

Teenagers often operate at the extremes and helping them to understand the value in compromising and to find middle ground will reduce stress.

There is no way to totally eliminate stress. However, I have found it very useful in my work with teenagers to teach them how to “reframe problems”.

The natural tendency is to focus on the potential negative consequences of stressors. Teaching a person to “reframe” by searching for the positive part of any event can help them to feel less stress.

Rather than getting aggravated about a traffic jam, reframe it as a time to listen to favorite music or to enjoy the opportunity to spend time alone and to focus on the positive parts of life. We can’t overstate the power of modeling the power of focusing on the positive.

Many of the children and adolescents I work with have developed a perfectionistic approach to life. Perfectionism is a major source of stress but, an avoidable one.

Teenagers should be encouraged to set reasonable standards for themselves and others and to understand that demanding perfection is a sure fire set-up for the experience of failure. “Good Enough” is a frequently lost or misjudged state.

Many of the young people I work with often spend a great deal of time and energy trying to change the unchangeable. We need to help our youth develop attitudes that some sources of stress are unavoidable, beyond their control, and that it’s easier to accept this than fighting a situation you can’t change.

I have found that some simple behaviors can significantly reduce stress. We cannot overlook the importance of good nutrition. Too many teenagers diet inappropriately as a result of stress and we have the responsibility as adults to directly face this when we see it and to get professional help.

Well-nourished bodies are essential for efficient stress management. The temporary “highs” caffeine and sugar provide often end in with a crash in mood and energy.

By reducing the amount of coffee, soft drinks, chocolate, and sugar snacks in the teenager will feel more relaxed. Adequate sleep fuels the mind, as well as the body.

Feeling tired is in and of itself a stressor. As a psychologist it is important for me to mention that, in my practice we often see the use of self-medication with alcohol or drugs as a method the teenager tries to reduce the feeling of stress.

Once a parent or other adult senses this, the issue must not be avoided but, must be dealt with head-on.

More and more cities and school districts are starting to look at teen stress. Some are developing programs for teachers and families to help determine stressful situations and how to teach healthy stress relieving tactics.

There are resources online (please see the below sources for some ideas to get started) to help parents, teachers and teenagers themselves learn more about their stress and how to work through it.

Photo: Camille DeMarco-Havens, health & wellness coordinator and Dr. Ron Raymond