Jantelle Cassiere sits in solitude, her thoughts racing through her mind like a Times Square news ticker:
Did I study hard enough for that test?
Why is my basketball coach being so hard on me?
Why can’t I have more time to spend with my friends?
What do I want to do for my career?
Why didn’t he text me today?
She takes out a pen and begins to scrawl in a diary, her only refuge from the storm of emotions. After a few minutes of purging her thoughts and feelings, the anxiety subsides.
“I’m not really a talker,” Jantelle admits. “I just keep things inside sometimes. I write in my diary because it just feels good to get things out on paper.”
Jantelle, a 16-year-old from San Diego, is just like millions of other teenagers in America who experience stress. It’s hard to put a quantifiable number on just how many teens have stress or how much. What brings on worry in one teen might not in another. Stress can come from a wide range of sources, including: family, friends, school workload, part-time employment, participating in sports, negative feelings about oneself, dating, body changes, career preparation, divorce of parents, death of a loved one and many others.
Physiologically, stress creates a “fight or flight” response in our bodies. When we feel stress, our breathing and heart rate increase, blood flow increases into our muscles, and hormones are released to help our bodies stay balanced.
Ryan Jackson, a former assistant director of high school ministries for Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Menlo Park, Calif., says teen stress isn’t necessarily that different from the stresses adults face. “We are all competing with our neighbors based on the demands of society, or even of our Western culture,” he said. “Teens just frame [stress] to whatever context they see, which is the microscope of high school, friends and family.”
Varied Causes of Stress
The types of stresses also can be attributed to socio-economic status. Teens who are from middle- to upper-class families will not have the same stresses as those from low-income homes.
Candace Loewen works as a marriage and family therapy intern. She also has done extensive work with an outpatient teen drug center in San Diego. She says some of the kids she sees are stressed by the peer pressures to participate in habitual drug use, gang activity, sex and violence.
While it’s understood that teens have stress, and sometimes lots of it, it’s how they choose to handle it that is of importance. For many, the stress in their lives can become so overwhelming that they are susceptible to “stress overload.” According to the American Academy for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, poorly managed stress can lead to withdrawal, aggression, physical illness, drug and alcohol use, and depression.
“Most teens deal with stress by finding some way to escape, whether it’s positively or negatively,” said Loewen. “When that escape is negative, that’s when you see the drug abuse, the eating disorders, the ‘cutting’ (self-mutilation).”
“Substance abuse is the reaction that concerns me the most,” said Jackson. “I’ve seen kids with problems with a lot harder drugs than I ever would have thought. They aren’t just smoking weed anymore. It’s crack, or meth or pills.”
Parents and youth workers need to be on alert for warning signs of stress overload, which include: increased pain, illness or chronic fatigue; increased anger and irritability; chronic feelings of hopelessness or nervousness; shutting down or withdrawal; and difficulty concentrating, eating or sleeping.
Stress also can be a major contributing factor to teenage depression and can have short- and long-term effects on a teenager’s well being. According to a study in the August 2003 issue of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, which was published on WebMD Health News, “Teenagers who experience a major episode of depression are more likely to have a relapse in their early 20s that causes personal problems across the board.”
The study shows, “Young adults who experienced an episode of depression during adolescence had numerous impairments in job performance, interpersonal relationships, quality of life and physical well-being”; and that “62 percent of those with major depression as a teen experienced a mental disorder in their early 20s. These people were less likely to graduate from college; had more problems holding down a job; had more physical health problems; and overall, had more stressful lives.”
Making a Difference
So what can youth workers do to try and reduce the stress level in the lives of
their teens? For Stew Montgomery,
associate minister of Student and Family
Ministries at Solana Beach Presbyterian
Church, in Solana Beach, Calif., it starts
with stopping. One of the ways he
tries to help his teens reduce stress is by
creating an environment of openness
and honesty. He adds that so many teens
are stressed by the amount of things on
their plate that he doesn’t want his time
with them to contribute to that or to
have it feel like church is “something
else I have to do.”
“I always try to set about 20 or 30
minutes aside when there’s not a lot of
structure,” said Montgomery. “This
allows people to catch up and connect
with each other if they choose. Some
teens today are too busy to the point that
it’s unhealthy.”
There are several other things teens
can do to help them reduce stress.
Here is a list of helpful tips from
• Take a stand against over-scheduling. If
you’re feeling stretched, consider
cutting out an activity or two,
opting for just the ones that are most
important to you.
• Be realistic. Don’t try to be perfect—
no one is.
• Get a good night’s sleep. Getting
enough sleep helps keep your body
and mind in top shape, making you
better equipped to deal with any
negative stressors.
• Learn to relax. Focus on breathing; try
to squeeze in time for activities that
are calming (reading a book, taking a
relaxing bath, etc.).
• Treat your body well. Regular exercise
helps people manage stress. Eat well to
help your body get the right fuel to
function at its best.
• Watch what you’re thinking. Your outlook,
attitude and thoughts influence
the way you see things. A healthy dose
of optimism can help you make the
best of stressful circumstances.
One of the most important things
youth workers can do to help is a simple
one, according to Jackson.
“Just knowing you’ll be there for them
is huge for kids,” he said. “Go to some of
their activities. Go to the football
games. Go to the school plays, so they
feel validated that what they are doing
is worth something. If someone like
a youth worker shows up, that’s a big
deal to them.”
Loewen agrees. “It’s extremely
important for teens to feel like they have
support, either from family or friends
or mentors,” she said. “They must
perceive there is someone out there who
believes in them and will care about
them unconditionally, regardless of
their mistakes.”
