Common Stressors for Modern Teens and Young Adults
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As an adult, you will go through periods of stress in your life. Yet new studies show that stress is common with the younger generation as well. A survey by the APA finds that over 80% of teens and young adults go through stressful times while at home, college, and into young adulthood. Everyday stressors for teens vary by person, but many are the same as most adults.
School and College Pressure
Like pressure at work, teens and young adults feel enormous pressure when attending school or college. Unlike work, however, younger people may not have the experience to manage some of their anxieties. As a result, more pressure is placed on your kids these days as they try to navigate social and school life.
The desire to get good grades leads some students to take drugs like Adderall to boost concentration and keep them awake. But this is the wrong road and leads to addiction issues (https://www.sunshinebehavioralhealth.com/colorado/boulder/) that carry on into their next life stage and ultimately put their grades at risk.
Cyberbullying
Further to social media envy, bullying is more pervasive than ever because of these platforms. Where your teens and young adults would enjoy the relative safety of home when finishing school, bullying has a way to reach the house and the lives of unfortunate kids who are subject to cyberbullying.
Social media and contact sharing allow cyberbullies to continue their vile actions through trolling, flaming, and stalking a victim's profile. Some cyberbullying cases have become so severe that they ended with a child taking their own life.
Social Media Envy
In direct opposition to the intended function of social media, platforms like Facebook push people apart and cause misery rather than bring them together. Teens and young adults are experiencing record levels of stress, depression, and anxiety with excess social media use.
Your kids may navigate the seemingly successful profiles of quasi-celebrities, show-off friends, and straight liars. Subsequently causing teens and young adults to become stressed at not having the life they desire. Like magazines, social media also portrays poor body image, causing young females to feel ashamed of their bodies and contributing to emotional eating disorders like anorexia.
Covid-19 Uncertainty
You may be feeling the terrible uncertainty of the pandemic right now. And with the new Omicron variant making its way through the world, the holiday season and into the new year could effectively be ruined again. But teens and young adults are feeling the pandemic stress more than most.
The disruption to education has been nothing short of life-changing, and many kids are left feeling apprehensive and uncertain about their future. Schools are closed, college classes are cancelled, students are all but forgotten about in some places.
The Expectations of Everyone Else
The pressure to do well in school is bad enough for most teens, but some also need to live up to the expectations of others. In some cases, strict parenting contributes to the pressure, where kids are forced to take on more than they can handle. But it might also be the case that a teen or young adult is the first in the family with the prospect of college.
They, therefore, undergo unnecessary pressure to make the family proud. You should encourage strong educational ethics and hard work. But pushing too much work on a teen or young adult will undoubtedly result in increased depression, anxiety, and stress.
Intimate Relationships
No one is impervious to the ups and downs of relationships. Yet, teens and young adults lack the experience, and in some cases, the emotional maturity to deal with them appropriately. Intimacy is hard for the inexperienced. Some can't open up at all, and some open up too much.
Therefore, it is helpful to teach your children that intimacy, love, and sexual relationships come and go. And breaking up with their first partner isn't the end of the world. In addition, of course, intimacy extends to the family, and a warm and loving family environment will help teens better cope with school and college life.
Parental and Home Issues
School life is challenging for most teens, yet the problems arise from a poor home environment for many. Divorce, absent parents, and abusive relationships are common worldwide. Yet, it is best to shield your kids from any negative family issues as best you can.
Your kids will be affected if they know you are struggling, arguing with your partner all the time, or abusing drugs and alcohol. Therefore, you should address any issues and seek help wherever you can. You can then work with your kids to reduce stress at home to do better in school.