Causes of Stress in Teenagers

A teenager's stress is as real a problem as an adult's stress. Oftentimes, their stress is brushed under the carpet. However, if it goes unnoticed for a long time, it can lead to some serious problems.

A world fueled with cut-throat competition has its own set of problems. The demands of surviving in today's world have undergone a huge change as compared to a decade ago. Whether it is getting good grades or excelling at sports, the competition has only become fierce.

In such conditions, stress is an obvious side effect. Sometimes, stress helps you stay motivated and keeps you driven towards achieving your goals. However, if the stress becomes too much to handle, it can lead to dire consequences with very serious repercussions.

Many teenagers are victims of such kind of stress. If the signs and symptoms of stress go unrecognized for a long time, it can make your child emotionally unstable and stymied.

Children often find it difficult to adapt to changing schools, which can be a serious cause of stress in their life. As teenage brings with it a rebellious streak in children, it makes finding new friends and getting along with new social circles, a little complex than what is anticipated.

As they fail to grasp the idea of changing schools, they get lonely, which worsens the problem.

Bullying is an age-old problem in school. Getting bullied can make your child feel trapped and cornered. This can further affect your child's social interactions and self-confidence. Bunking school, staying at home and being scared all the time, are some of the signs of stress related to bullying at school.

Academic difficulties, such as inability to understand a certain subject can cause stress. Not every child has an aptitude to understand every subject.

Poor academic performance is often laughed at and is looked down upon, by both teachers and peers.In such cases, it can make your child feel isolated, neglected and hurt. All of this, put together, can add to stress, which many times worsens grades and aggravates the issues.

Relationship issues at home, such as divorce of parents, their separation or death can be one of the biggest causes of mounting stress in your child's life. Teenage is the time when children are likely to get caught up in fights with peers, leading to estranged relationships with them.

As their closest friends and families break away, a teenager experiences emotions, which remained hidden until now which leads to unnecessary stress in your teenager's life.

Extra curricular activities such as playing a sport, refining some art forms or attending classes can weigh heavily on your child's mind.

Juggling between school and extra curricular activities does seem like a burden when you have to excel at both. When the pressures from both the ends gets unmanageable, teenagers tend to get overwhelmed and frazzled.

Fatigue sets in, leading to stress related issues such as lack of concentration in school.

Fulfilling expectations of parents, school teachers and peers can cause chronic stress. Such great expectations is the main reason why children tend to reel in self-doubt and peer pressure.

The constant demands from parents and micro monitoring of every activity, to ensure your child becomes the best at everything, can make him/her emotionally and physically exhausted by the end of it.

Look for signs such as constant moodiness, memory loss, irritability, negative and pessimistic attitude, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, loneliness, isolation, and loss of appetite.

Make an effort to understand your child's emotions and feelings to help him deal with the stress and develop his emotional strength.