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Aaron Groff

Lisa Tyler

ENG.1201.518

23 March 2021

Teen Stress: Causes, Consequences, and Coping

Hannah, an eighteen-year-old girl from Illinois, had a challenging time with stress. She

was in the process of a big social change and college applications were coming up quick. During

finals, she would occasionally feel her right wrist go numb. Two months later it was numb all the

time, along with her left arm and part of her face. It turned out that she had been carrying her

stress in her sholders. They had become so tight that her vertebrae moved, cutting off her nerves

and causing loss of feeling in her arm (Thurmond). All of this had happened to Hannah because

of her stress. Stress is becoming increasingly influential in teens today. According to data from

the American Psychological Association, teen stress now rivals that of adults (Smith). However,

it is still continuously blamed on hormones or teen moodiness. Teen stress does exist, as proved

by Hannah and so many other struggling teenagers out there. But what stress inducers do teens

struggle with the most, what are the most terrifying consequences of teen stress, and how can

teens cope with stress? Stress is caused most by school, family, and social pressure, the

consequences of stress can be as severe as suicide, and the most effective ways to cope with

stress are mindfulness and reaching out for help. Parents have the most important role in the

process of helping their teens cope and recover from stress.

Stress is not a new development in human nature. It has been around for as long as any

animal. In fact, stress was essential to survival in pre-civilized times. The fight or flight reactions
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caused by stress would save people’s lives in the case of being chased by wooly mammoths or

defending ourselves against enemy tribes (Krakower). Nowadays, human instinctual reactions to

stress are not as beneficial as they were in primitive times. People rarely must utilize their natural

reactions to stress, as they most likely are not being surrounded by a pack of tigers anymore.

However, even though the times change, these natural instincts do not. People still feel these

fight or flight reactions, but now they kick in when they are taking a standardized test, or when

they are overloaded with work. Even though there is no legitimate threat to their life, these

instincts make it feel like there is. They have even more of an effect on a developing teen.

Teenagers have not developed the wisdom and common sense that comes with age. Plus, so

many big decisions in life are made in high school and early college years. This all contributes to

the problems with teen stress today.

There are many potential causes of stress that teens face. But perhaps the most prevalent

in life today is academic stress. According to the American Psychological Association’s study,

83 percent of teens said school causes them some stress, while seven percent suffer from extreme

stress due to school (Shapiro). That means that five out of every six have some academic stress

and one out of every fifteen teens struggle with extreme academic stress. Those number are far

too high, especially considering the consequences that stress can have. Dr. Kathleen Smith, a

graduate of Harvard University and George Washington University and a licensed therapist,

shares a similar opinion when it comes to academic stress. She says that the most common

source of stress is school, whether it is grades or standardized test scores or applying to college.

Poor time management skills and an overwhelming amount of work contribute to academic

stress as well (Smith). Many teens have not yet learned how to balance their ever-increasing

workload with other activities that they want to participate in, leading to procrastination and a
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seemingly impossible amount of work to finish in the little time they have given themselves.

Marcelina Hardy says that school stress also has to do with expectations placed on them. Teens

get stressed when teachers and parents expect too much of them. They often feel defeated when

getting a bad grade, knowing that they have disappointed the ones that they love (Hardy). Teens

can get discouraged when they have failed the people that they care about the most. Then, they

could be less likely to put in the work next time because they think that they will fail again. This

can lead to failing the class, summer school, a decreased GPA, and decreased chances of getting

into college (which is a stressful enough process on its own). Academics is a major cause of teen

stress and is the factor to blame for most teens.

Another widespread and influential teen stress inducer is family stress. Marital problems,

bad relationships with siblings, and financial problems can all trigger teen stress (Smith). Parents

that desire a divorce can make a teen feel inadequate. Teens can feel like their parents' feelings of

dislike for each other are stronger than their feelings of love for their son or daughter. Teenagers

can also have parents that struggle with alcoholic and abusive habits (Hardy). Again, teens can

feel insignificant if their parents turn to these things instead of love for their child. Siblings can

cause a considerable amount of emotional distress for a teenager. Everyone has a breaking point,

and siblings always seem to be the most capable of bringing teens to this point of anger. Even

though regular arguments between siblings are common, teens can resent them because they feel

inferior to them or feel like their siblings have it easier than them (Hardy). Financial problems in

a teen’s family can make teens wonder when they will get a better house, where they will go to

college, and in extreme cases when they will eat their next meal at home. Then, these teens will

have to go to school the next day just to see everybody else in their name brand clothes and with

expensive phones, complaining about how their parents refuse to buy them a new car. When
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teens do not feel cared for at home, they can bring their frustration to school and act out (Hardy).

Family stress can have a massive impact on the emotions of a teen, and most teens struggle with

at least one of these family problems.

Lastly, social stress is a frequent stress inducer in teens. Social stress is stress caused by

interactions with others. Desirable groups of friends that genuinely care about each other are

often not very accepting to unfamiliar faces. Because of this, teens can struggle to find a group of

friends that they like, so they often turn to popularity. Getting into the “in” crowd cause lots of

stress for teenagers and staying in it can be even more stressful (Hardy). Popularity in school

requires teens to change themselves and become more basic. Teens cannot have anything about

them considered weird to be popular. Unfortunately, teens think that popularity will help them

make friends, but friends made this way are often not genuine. For example, if something weird

is revealed about a teen (and everyone has something out of the ordinary in their life), these

friends will sometimes abandon them to avoid a hit to their own reputation. Teens making

friends this way will constantly be worried about something coming out about them, causing

constant stress. Being involved in a romantic relationship is no easy task for a teen, either

(Smith). Romantic relationships can cause even more stress for teens than finding friends. They

can easily become a massive commitment that teens simply do not have the time or energy for.

Teens feel like they have to try so hard to keep their partner pleased and happy, which causes

powerful stress. The line between healthy arguments and verbal abuse by romantic partners can

be hard to decipher for an inexperienced teen. And, if a breakup comes, teens can have feelings

of “inadequacy, rejection, and loneliness” (Hardy). Social stress can be extremely hard to escape,

making the feelings of self-doubt and loneliness even stronger.

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There are many other teen stressors in the world. For example, drugs are a stress inducer

in teens. Drugs only make the developmental stage more difficult to get through healthfully

(Hardy). World events, traumatic events, and significant life changes were also mentioned as

stress inducers in teens (Smith). These stress inducers are serious and can have an enormous

impact on a teen. However, they are less common than academic, social, and family stress. Many

teens do not struggle with drugs, worry about school shootings, lose a family member, suffer a

fatal diagnosis, or move across the country. But nearly every teen has some academic, family,

and social stress. These more specific causes of stress have a more significant impact on teens

affected by them, but they are not as common as other stressors that teens struggle with.

Academic, family, and social stress have the biggest impact on the most teens. But what

really is the impact that the stressors are having? When someone gets stressed, they will often

feel an increased heart rate, an increased pulse, an increased blood pressure, an increased body

temperature, muscle contraction and tension, shallow chest breathing, decreased blood vessel

size, and decreased digestive activity (Biegel 16). The preceding symptoms happen when a

person gets nervous. They are relatively normal in human life and alone should not be cause for

concern. However, constant amounts of stress can lead to more influential problems. Changes in

sleep, changes in weight, headaches, indigestion, tiredness, social withdrawal, lack of interest in

studies and hobbies, indifference to appearance, anger outbursts, anxiety, sadness, panic attacks,

and lack of concentration are all symptoms of prolonged periods of stress (“Teen Stress”).

Symptoms that affect the sleep schedules of teens can be especially harmful. Teens already have

to wake up as early as five in the morning to get on the bus to school. Any additional cuts to their

sleep are hurting an already dismal sleep schedule. Social withdrawal and lack of interest in

studies will cause teens to lose connections with people, making teens feel even lonelier. Anger
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outbursts and panic attacks will further distance teens from people. These symptoms have a

bigger influence on teenage life, but any single occurrence of them is not out of the ordinary.

While the above consequences can have an effect in life, Veereshkumar Nandagaon and

Sudha Raddi argue that teen stress can cause even more significant consequences. They

conducted a study in which they surveyed 1204 Indian teens to see how many struggled with a

variety of several types of academic stress, depression, and suicidal ideation. This study was

intended to prove that academic stress is in direct correlation with depression and suicide.

Nandagaon and Raddi found that 286 struggled with a low level of academic stress, 645

struggled with an average level, and 273 struggled with a high level, which is 23.75%, 53.57%,

and 22.67% of teens in the study respectively (14: 4465). Nandagaon and Raddi also found that

academic stress and depression, as well as suicidal ideation and depression, have a strong

positive correlation (see table 1) with each other, (14: 4666). The variables represent the several

types of academic stress. The n value represents the sample size. The r-value and t-value are both

used in calculating the correlation between two variables. The test was conducted at a five

percent significance level, meaning if the p-value is under 0.05, there was at least some

correlation between the variable listed and depression. Because each variable resulted in a p-

value significantly less than 0.05, there is a strong correlation between each of the stress

variables and depression. The study proves suicidal ideation in teens is directly caused by

depression, which is directly caused by stress. Therefore, significant amounts of stress in teens

can lead to suicide. This, of course, is profoundly serious consequence of stress.

Table 1

Correlation Between Academic Stress and Depression Scores

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Source: (Nandagaon, Raddi 14: 4666)

Variables n r-value t-value p-value

Total Academic Stress 1204 0.3514 13.0117 0.0001*
Pressure from Study Stress 1204 0.2824 10.2045 0.0001*
Study Work Load Stress 1204 0.1698 5.9728 0.0001*
Worry About Grades Stress 1204 0.2091 7.4138 0.0001*
Self Exp Stress 1204 0.3108 11.3379 0.0001*
Study Despondency Stress 1204 0.3333 12.2570 0.0001*
Suicidal Ideation 1204 0.3929 14.8123 0.0001*
So, the various causes of teen stress can lead to suicide in teens. What can be done to

prevent teens from taking their lives? In The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens, Gina Biegel

argues that mindfulness is key to dealing with stress. “Mindfulness is noticing your thoughts,

feelings, and physical sensations in the present moment” (Biegel 27). Mindfulness will allow

people to live in the moment, be more aware of their physical, mental, and emotional state,

choose how to respond in certain situations, and make better decisions (Biegel 27). If teens live

in the moment, they will not be as worried about future assignments or tests. They also will not

be worried about how they used to be bullied. Considering how to respond and making better

decisions will always be the best course of action. If teens think before starting an argument with

their parents, siblings, or significant others, they will be able to avoid the emotional pain that

comes with arguments. It will also prevent procrastination and stress over an impossible amount

of work to finish in little time. Being mindful can seem hard in the moment, but it is as easy as

paying attention to the five senses: touch, taste, hearing, smell, and sight (Biegel 33). Focusing

on the senses will bring teens back to the present and help them let go of their emotions. Then

teens can practice mindful stopping, “a way to check in with yourself before you act impulsively

or thoughtlessly in stressful moments” (Biegel 108). They can consider the best way to respond

and prevent regretting their response later. Mindfulness is a terrific way to reduce stress in

teenagers because it allows them to stay in the moment and act rationally.
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Another way to cope with stress is to reach out for help. This can be scary for many

teenagers because they fear that they will be rejected help, further deteriorating their emotional

health. So, some teens make the choice to try and deal with their stress on their own. Teens may

be at a critical point of stress when they have thoughts of suicide, cannot sleep, lose interest in

once loved activities, cannot control their anger, use drugs to attempt to cope, and cannot

complete a task (Krakower). When teens reach this critical point, it is absolutely necessary for

them to ask for help. Teens can ask their parents, a guidance counselor, or another trusted adult

to help (Hardy). Despite the fact that teens may be nervous, nothing is worse than falling into a

state of depression and committing suicide. Talking their stress out with their parents or another

adult could give teens guidance on how to approach the source of their stress. Even if the adult

does not know how to help them, the teen will still have comfort in knowing that someone is

looking out for them.

While asking for help seems like an obvious step for teens in need, many fear

embarrassment or rejection. That is why parental support is so important in a teen’s life.

Mindfulness and asking for help are great strategies to help the teen cope, but without a good

relationship with their parents the teen may not ask for help or may never get the resources to

learn about being mindful. Instead, their mental health will continue to plummet, and the teen

may eventually develop depression. A study done by Christiane E. Kehoe, Sophie S. Havighurst,

and Ann E. Harley was done to evaluate the effectiveness of Tuning in to Teens (TINT)

program, intended to help decrease stress levels in teens and prevent anxiety and depression.

Parents play a huge role in the program, because they are taught “an adaptive emotion

socialization style called ‘emotion coaching’” (Kehoe et al., 56: 624). Then parents are asked to

help their teens through a five-step process. They become aware of the teen’s emotions,
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recognize the opportunity for a teachable moment, communicate acceptance of their emotions,

help the teen describe how they feel, and help the teen with problem solving if necessary (Kehoe

et al., 56: 624). The results of the study showed that the TINT program was extremely effective.

By increasing the emotional awareness in parents, the TINT program changed key factors during

adolescence, leading to a decrease in anxiety and depression (Kehoe et al., 56: 635). The study

proves that parents are instrumental and necessary in the process of helping their teens through

stress.

Parents can provide a huge benefit to a teen’s mental health, as proved by the study.

However, when parents blame reactions to teen stress on common negative stereotypes of teens,

like moodiness, laziness, and rudeness, parents can be as hurtful as they can be helpful. For

example, the writer of an article on Parenting Teens & Tweens is encouraging the use of sarcasm

to teens who are not following orders. The writer says that if a teen does not do a respectable job

on a chore, the parent should give them more chores and say that perfecting them takes practice

(“8 Genius Responses”). Even if the parent thinks that the teen truly did not do an adequate job

with the chore due to laziness, the teen could be struggling with stress that the parent does not

know about. Giving more chores to a stressed teen that has enough to worry about already will

just make them angrier. The writer also says to use reverse psychology (complement them on

being nice to their sibling) to make the teen feel bad for arguing with a younger sibling (“8

Genius Responses”). Arguments with siblings are unavoidable. Anyone that someone spends

enough time with someone else will eventually get angered by them. If the argument was started

by the other sibling, reverse psychology will just make the teen more frustrated. Also, if the teen

said something truly extreme to their sibling, they already feel bad about it and there is no need

to make them feel worse. Teens struggling with relational stress with siblings do not need parents
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to damage their relationship further. Lastly, the writer tells parents to promise teens not to talk to

them again when they say they are not in the mood. Then when the teen asks a question, remind

them of that promise and refuse to talk to them (“8 Genius Responses”). If teens say they are not

in the mood for jokes or conversation, they are probably telling the truth. Parents should

respectfully let the teen cheer themselves up or help them do so, just like they would treat any

adult. In addition, if a stressed and lonely teen wants to talk later and their parent refuses to talk

to them, they will feel even worse. Parents should always assume that teens have more going on

than they can see and treat them accordingly. If they fail to recognize this possibility, the teen

could develop depression or even suicidal ideation.

Parents have the most important role in helping their teens fight stress. So, instead of

assuming teens are being moody, lazy, or rude, parents should try to figure out what is going on

with their teen by being aware of the signs of stress. Signs that parents should look out for are

anger, excessive crying, social withdrawal, lack of sleep, worry, excessive or limited eating,

frequent headaches and stomachaches, low energy, and drugs and alcohol (“Help Your Teen

Cope With Stress”). No adult is around their teen as much as the parents. So, that makes them

the optimal people to notice these symptoms. If parents recognize them, they should not wait for

their teen to ask for help. For all they know, their teen has been feeling this way for a while and

may even be beginning to develop depression. Instead, parents should act when they see a

problem with stress in their teens. Spending time with them, listening to them, being a role

model, encouraging exercise, paying attention to sleep, teaching work management skills,

staying out of their problems, feeding them healthy foods, creating routines, and being

understanding of their mistakes are all things that parents can do to help their teenagers (“Help

Your Teen Cope With Stress”). Often, doing these will lead to teens feeling like they can open
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up and discuss their feelings with their parents. However, if they continue to experience the

symptoms of stress or their symptoms get worse, parents should not hesitate to call a medical

professional (“Help Your Teen Cope With Stress”).

The most common stressors in teenage life are academic stress, family stress, and social

stress. Consequences of stress can stretch from minor irritations like headaches to major

problems like depression. Two of the best coping strategies for stress are mindfulness and asking

for help. Lastly, supportive parents are the most important factor in helping teens minimize their

stress. If Hannah were able to identify the causes of her stress, realize the consequences of her

stress, ask for guidance from her parents, and know some of these coping strategies for her stress

before finals, she would have been able to manage her stress. Teenage stress is severe, and

increased awareness of its causes, consequences, coping strategies, and solutions can help reduce

stress for all teenagers.

Works Cited

“8 Genius Responses for When Your Teen is Being Lazy and Entitled.” Parenting Teens &

Tweens, 11 Mar. 2019, https://parentingteensandtweens.com/8-genius-responses-for-

when-your-teen-is-being-lazy-and-entitled/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2021.

Biegel, Gina. The Stress Reduction Workbook for Teens. E-book, New Harbinger Publications,

2017. http://sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1513531&site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_A.

Hardy, Marcelina. “Causes of Teenage Stress.” Love to Know,

https://stress.lovetoknow.com/Causes_of_Teenage_Stress. Accessed 7 Mar. 2021.

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“Help Your Teen Cope With Stress.” Medline Plus, 13 Aug. 2020,

https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000814.htm. Accessed 10 Apr. 2021.

Kehoe, Christiane E., et al. “Tuning in to Teens: Investigating Moderators of Program Effects

and Mechanisms of Change of an Emotion Focused Group Parenting Program.”

Developmental Psychology, vol. 56, no. 3, 2020, pp. 623-637,

http://sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1245050&site=eds-live. Accessed 10 Apr. 2021.

Krakower, Karen. “Teen Stress 101.” HealthLeader Online Magazine, pp. 1–4, Nov. 2008,

http://sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=c9h&AN=35418443&site=eds-live. Accessed 6 Mar. 2021.

Nandagaon, Veereshkumar S., and Sudha A. Raddi. “Depression and Suicidal Ideation as a

Consequence of Academic Stress among Adolescent Students.” Indian Journal of Forensic

Medicine & Toxicology, vol. 14, no. 4, Oct. 2020, pp. 4464–4468,

http://sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=i3h&AN=148409858&site=eds-live. Accessed 6 Mar. 2021.

Shapiro, Margaret. “Stressed-out Teens, With School a Main Cause.” Washington Post, 17 Feb.

2014, www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/stressed-out-teens-with-school-a-

main-cause/2014/02/14/d3b8ab56-9425-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html.

Smith, Kathleen. “6 Common Triggers of Teen Stress.” Psycom, 24 Nov. 2020,

https://www.psycom.net/common-triggers-teen-stress/. Accessed 7 Mar. 2021.

“Teen Stress: What Are the Consequences and How You Can Help.” Pumpic, 7 April 2018,

https://pumpic.com/security/teen-stress-management/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2021.

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Thurmond, Alexandra. “Under Pressure: Teens Speak Out About Stress.” Teen Vogue, 17 March

2014, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/stress. Accessed 20 Mar. 2021.