Top Reasons For Teenage Anxiety
An Interview with a 13 year old girl who is transitioning from junior high to high school
Tell me about the pressure teens are facing today
Teenagers experience all types of pressure throughout junior high and high school. Adolescents experience stress from many outside things, but they also put a lot of the pressure on themselves. Pressure is bad enough in junior high, but in high school it seems like it gets much worse. It feels like almost everything you do matters as we are told colleges look at everything.
High achieving teenagers then feel pressured to do things like take extremely hard classes, join clubs that force them to give up their lunches, and stay up late studying. When students feel like everything matters, the pressure really starts to build. This can cause them to be really anxious and scared to make mistakes.
How do tests and homework contribute to stress and anxiety?
Homework and tests cause plenty of anxiety in teenagers’ lives. When students have a test worth 120 points that covers literally everything they learned that year, it can be very panic inducing. Students then feel stressed and stay up late studying, only making their mental health worse.
Homework also is a high cause of anxiety in teenagers. Let’s say that a student takes a 0-6 period school day and that their 6th period is PE and they have 2 electives that give out minimal homework. That still leaves 4 core academic classes that most likely each give out 2-4 pages of homework on a regular basis. That leaves 8-16 pages of homework each night, and some of it is bound to take more time than others due to it being harder.
This causes many students to stay up late finishing it so they can get a good grade in the class. All this homework and studying is stressful enough but it also doesn’t leave any time for being social or just relaxing. All of this put together is quite stressful and causes anxiety to increase.
Tell me about the big changes teens face today
No matter what they are, big changes have a large impact on teenagers’ mental health. Some changes that have the biggest impacts are things like moving or their parents divorcing. These things usually cause large life changes that are difficult for the adolescent brain to process. If they end up moving, they are most likely going to a different school, forcing them to make completely new friends and basically start over.
It also might put them completely out of their comfort zones which is very stressful for someone whose brain is still developing. When parents divorce, it is very common for kids to go between houses and that might be very confusing and anxiety inducing for someone who has never done it before.
Perhaps it’s just that instead of having a peaceful and relaxing weekend, they spend it packing to go to their other parents house. This could cause anxiety since time to chill and relax is spent stressing about if they have everything they need. When teenagers experience things like this, or anything that might disrupt their normal life, it can cause high anxiety levels.
How can teens get the support they need?
If they can’t manage the pressure on their own and friends are all stressed out too, going to counseling can help. A therapist specifically for teens can provide a safe place to process anxiety and the big changes adolescents are facing. It’s never too soon to reach out for help, your teen will thank you.