Causes of Teenage Stress

With changing times and the desire to keep up with the rest of world in terms of material possessions, we tend to put a fair amount of pressure on our children to perform. Therefore it is no doubt that our children are as vulnerable to stress as we are. The causes of stress among teenagers are, however, different from the factors that cause stress in adults.

Some common causes of stress among teenagers are described below:

• Puberty – A large number of teenagers experience stress simply due to the fact that they are undergoing puberty. Physical changes like zits, development of breasts, first signs of facial hair and other internal hormonal changes bring with them feelings of unease.
• Parental expectations – This is probably the most common and overbearing cause of stress. The high expectations that parents have from their offspring is sometimes based on the desire that the children should achieve what the parents could not. However, parents do more harm to their children by making such desires explicit. And this is especially true of the teenager is not inclined towards what the parent wants him/her to do or does not have the capability to do so.
• Peer pressure – Often the clash between the expectations of parents and the peer group causes stress. When the actions that are required to please parents and those that are likely to result in acceptance by peers end up being at loggerheads with each other, stress is bound to be the result.
• Academic pressure – While we may feel that our children are less concerned about grades than they should be the fact of the matter is that many teenagers worry about their grades at school and get too worried at times about the results. This is irrespective of the actually grades that a teenager generally gets. Some extremely bright teenagers worry about their grades more than teenagers who actually should be concerned about flunking.
• Relationship with the opposite sex – As the teenagers discover their sexuality and start getting attracted towards the opposite sex, unrealized love or being branded as a certain type of girl or boy can be extremely stressful.
• Physical appearance – During teenage, physical appearance seems to matter much more than it does at a later age. Teenagers worry about whether they are too fat or too thin, the scar on their arm and even about whether the tattoo that they got looks trendy enough or not

Teenage is the age when young people are caught midway between childhood and adulthood. On one side is the desire to break free while on the other is the feeling that they may not be completely capable of taking all their decisions on their own.

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