Running head: TEENAGE STRESS 1

Teenage stress

Ivy, Claire, Julie, and Kate

Group 1 - F05E – ITP - Banking Academy of Vietnam

TEENAGE STRESS 2

Abstract

Stress has now become a crucial part of the daily life. It

is rare to see someone leading a stress-free life in the modern

society. Obviously, teenagers, as social members, have to suffer

from stress. Nevertheless, not all teenagers are aware of the

fact that they are under stress. They can easily say “I am so

stressed” without perceiving if they are really stressed or not.

So, this research is to provide helpful information about teenage

stress including causes, consequences, and solutions so that

teenagers can acknowledge it.

Keywords: teenage stress, teenagers, causes, consequences, solutions

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Introduction

The adolescence is a vital turning-point in a person’s life.

Along with the new-found freedom and independence, adolescents

also have to deal with many issues that cause them unpleasant

feelings. Stress is one of those issues. We believe that stress

did exist in the previous times, but it has been getting more

serious with the change of the world. Today, teenagers’ lives are

under so much pressure from school, family and society. Having

realized that, we decided to do research about teenage stress.

The main purpose of this research is to bring an overview of

stress to teenagers so that they can understand clearly the

reasons that lead to their stressful lives, the consequences

caused by stress and finally, some useful ways to overcome it.

Our goal is to answer these three questions: “What makes

teenagers feel stressed?”, “How does stress affect their lives?”

and “How do they overcome it?” If we are able to answer them, it

is our success.

Method

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Participants

One hundred teenagers were randomly selected through

Facebook, a very popular social network, to do the survey. There

were 67 males and 33 females. Their ages are from 15 to 19 and

the average age is 17.5. The number 100 was chosen because it was

reasonable to analyze. Therefore, the result would also be

practical and precise. Participants voluntarily took part in this

survey.

Method and Procedure

The questionnaire was built up according to a proper order.

The first two questions were to ask about some personal habits.

The next three ones questioned directly about their stress

condition. Then the next three questions asked the participants

about how they react when they are stressed and how they overcome

stress. These eight questions had multiple choices. Six questions

had three to four answers, two questions were Yes or No

questions. The last question was to examine the participants’

knowledge of the food which they think is good for stressed

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people and the participants wrote theirs answers in the box which

was given below the question.

The questionnaire was made by an online survey tool which is

at http://www.surveytool.com and posted on two Facebook user’s

accounts.

Procedure

The participants had to answer all the questions by clicking

on the choices and typing the answer. Their answers were sent to

our e-mail address. After all receiving 100 e-mails, the result

was made according to the answers by calculating and then the

figures were expressed as percentage.

Results

The result was analyzed and put into the graphs below.

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Figure 1: How many hours do you spend sleeping a day?

The chart demonstrates that nearly half of the participants

sleep less than 8 hours a day, which is not enough for a

teenager. This means they do not have time for sleeping due to

many reasons. It can be homework overload, insomnia, etc.

Nowadays, teenagers have more pressure on their shoulders than

the previous generations. It can be seen clearly that teenagers’

lives has always been changing with the changing world. If the

24%

45%

31%

8 hours< 8 hours> 8 hours

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lack of sleep condition keeps occurring, adolescent people will

be extremely stressed. Fortunately, one-fourth of the

participants have enough sleeping time, 8 hours, and

approximately one-third of the teenagers who took part in the

survey sleep more than 8 hours a day.

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Figure 2: What makes you stress most?

This chart shows causes of stress in teenagers. Just under

half of the respondents (45%) feel stressed due to school. They

have to cope with homework increasing, examine pressure, etc.

Such circumstances lead to anxiety, depression, even suicide.

Family is another contributing factor towards teenage stress. One

fifth of respondents (20%) choose it as a cause of stress. The

expectations of all members in the family, especially parents are

so high that they weigh the children down. However, just over one

third of people (35%) believe that relationships are main causes

20%

45%

35%

FamilySchoolRelationships

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leading to their stress. This result reveals that stress is not

the problem for only adults; teenagers are also burdened with

many different types of it.

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Figure 3: What do you do to get over stress?

Talking with

friends

Shopping Taking part in outdoor activities

Eating Others0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%33%

6%

17% 18%

26%

This chart reveals the ways adolescence use to get over

stress. It can be seen clearly that one-thirds of respondents

(33%) chose talking with friends, twice as much as taking in

outdoor activities (17%) and eating (18%). This suggests that

chatting is known as the most effective way to release stress. It

is easily understood because friends are very important to

children. They are the ones who adolescence believe in and tend

to share everything with. One-tenths believed playing instruments

could help. Besides, there are small portions of shopping (6%)

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along with sleeping (5%). Surprisingly, some even have negative

thoughts such as self-cutting (1%) and smoking (6%).

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Figure 4: Have you ever thought in a negative way due to stress?

62%

38%

YesNo

This chart illustrates how many of the participants have

ever thought in a negative way. Unexpectedly, only 38% of them

have never done it before. It is thought that teenage years are

the time of a life. When people are at that age, they are

energetic, positive, and cheerful. However, nowadays, teenagers

are being so affected by stress that they have some negative

thoughts such as dropping school, leaving home, and committing

suicide. This is a serious problem for family, school, and

society.

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Figure 5: In your opinion, what kind of food is good for stressed

people?

Fruit

Vegeta...

Ice-cream

Chocolate

Water

Chicken

Alcohol

Cake

Coffee Eg

g0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

48%

6%12% 10%

5% 3% 4% 5% 5%2%

This chart shows what kind of food teenagers think is good

for stressed people. Nearly half of the responses are fruit while

chocolate and ice-cream have only one-tenth for each. This is

pretty surprising because it is widely believed that people like

to eat sweets when they feel stressed. In addition, there are

other responses: vegetable (6%), water (5%), chicken (3%),

alcohol (4%), cake (5%), coffee (5%), and egg (2%). It can be

seen easily that these kinds of food are chosen by teenagers’

favorite. Some of them are good for health but some of them are

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not. This result also reveals that teenagers still do not know

what kind of food can help them get over stress.

Discussion

Nowadays, along with the change of the world, teenagers have

a more stressful life than the previous generations. Society,

family and school are putting a lot of pressure on them. At home,

they are expected to behave well, to do the household chores, and

to get good marks. Furthermore, some teenagers have to witness

domestic violence or they are the victims of it. Still, at

school, teachers want their students to not only study hard to

win a seat in a university but also participate in school

activities. They may also be bullied by their classmates due to

their ranks, their backgrounds and so on. To add up to teenage

pressure, society also expects teenagers to be good citizens, to

study hard to contribute to society. Relationship is the other

aspect of the society. Love quarrels, having a fight with their

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best friends have influences on teenagers, too. However, the

most popular pressure is studying pressure. Teenagers have to

study a lot. Obviously, with just 24 hours a day, studying much

means there is not much time left for entertainment, sleeping,

hanging out with friends. As a result, stress keeps increasing

continuously. To some extents, they will collapse, both

physically and mentally. This result leads to depression, suicide

commitment, aggression, withdraw from reality. The world has

always been changing but it also causes a huge issue for

teenagers, it is stress.

Stress is a natural reaction of the body. Different people

react to stress differently. For instance, a student’s stomach

suddenly aches before an exam, an interviewee cannot think

straight when he is answering a complicated question.

Scientifically, the effects of stress can be divided into two

types which are negative and positive.

Teenage stress is easily recognized through these three

reactions: aggression, depression, and withdrawal.

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Stress makes teenagers become much more aggressive.

Aggression is an outbreak of anger which occurs when many strong

unpleasant feelings are repressed at the same time. Under that

circumstance, people tend to cause harm to unleash their

feelings. Among teenagers, it occurs when they have too much

homework to do or are criticized by teachers. To make the matter

worse, there are conflicts between their parents. They use bad

language, talk back to their parents or even pick up fights at

school. The consequences are unpredictable.

Depression is another reaction when teenagers feel stressed.

According to Melinda Smith, M.A, Suzanne Barston, and Jeanne

Segal, (2012), there are many symptoms of depression such as

feeling useless or worthless about themselves, constantly

irritable, and unable to concentrate. It has great influences on

teens’ lives. For instance, they use stimulants like coffee,

cigarettes, wine, etc as a self-booster to overcome stress.

However, it is proven that using such things makes the situation

worse as well as increase stress.

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A lot of teenagers who are under stress find it difficult to

confide in anyone, so they choose to isolate themselves from the

society. They believe that there is no one standing by them and

that thought separates them from family and friends. Therefore,

no one can share thoughts and feelings with them. Moreover, when

withdrawal lasts for a long time, teenagers want to commit

suicide due to being tired of living.

Despite all of these, stress is not always dreadful as we

believe. Stress in short term can be a motivating factor. For

example, when a student has a deadline to be met, he will work

very hard even it means that he has to stay up all night.

Teenagers will not try their best if there is no motivation.

According to Sherry Obenauer (2012), there are thirteen ways

to get over stress. However, in the result of the survey, only

four of them were chosen. They are exercising regularly, eating,

sleeping and sharing with others. Each of them has its own

benefit.

To begin with, spending 30 minutes a day exercising

definitely is a good idea. Exercising is varied in many forms

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such as doing aerobics, swimming, working out and so on. It is

proven that doing aerobics can help the body not only become

flexible but also release a number of calming and healthy

chemicals. Moreover, these activities distract people from

stressful issues.

The next solution is eating healthily. What we eat and drink

affects greatly on how we think and behave. Foods containing fat,

cholesterol, and sugar along with drinks high in caffeine, sugar

and alcohol should be avoided as they cause many health problems

to our brains and bodies, such as headache, irritation,

incapability of concentrating, anxiety or heart-related disease.

Eating fruits, vegetables, grain, and calcium products is

recommended. Also, drinking a lot of water is a perfect choice

instead of coffee, juice and carbonated drinks.

Following the two solutions above is sleeping. Seven or

eight hours must be spent on sleeping per day in order for the

body to rest and recover. A lack of sleep damages the body and

leads to a mental breakdown. The last way is sharing thoughts and

feelings. It is essential to have a person to share stories with,

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especially to adolescent. They always look for sympathy and

support from others so that they can feel relieved and not

isolated. Young people tend to share daily things with their

friends since they are at the same age and are able to understand

each other easily. Restraining emotion so much is definitely a

bad selection.

Besides from these four particular ways, going shopping,

playing instrument and listening to music are considered stress

relievers as well

References

AIS The American Institute of Stress (2012) ‘Definition of

Stress’ AIS: Topics of Interest http://www.stress.org/

[accessed 5 May 2012]

American Psychological Association (2012) ‘Stress: The

different kinds of stress’ APA: Psychology Help Center

http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/ [accessed 5 May 2012]

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Fatfreekitchen (2012) ‘Meaning & Definition of Stress and

Types of Stress’ http://www.fatfreekitchen.com/

[accessed 5 May 2012]

India Parenting (2012) ‘Teen Aggression’ Articles India

Parenting http://www.indiaparenting.com/ [accessed 5 May

2012]

Melinda Smith, M.A, Suzanne Barston, & Jeanne Segal, Ph.D

(2012) ‘Teen Depression: A guide for parents and

teachers’ Helpguide.org: A trusted non-profit resource

http://www.helpguide.org [accessed 5 May 2012]

Melissa Stoppler, MD (2012) ‘Stress’ MedicineNet

http://www.medicinenet.com/ [accessed 5 May 2012)

Sherry Obenauer, M.A (2012) ‘Thirteen Stress Relievers That

You Can Easily Do Now’ Selfhelp Magazines: Articles

http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/article/ [accessed 5

May 2012]

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Appendices

Literature Review

Stress is difficult to define. There are many definitions

which are given in both medical and scientific field. Simply put,

stress is a feeling that is created to react to a particular

case. For instance, a person may feel they are under stress due

to his lack of sleep and lack of sleep is the case here. Any

factor which creates stress is called stressor. According to

American Psychological Association and Fatfreekitchen (2012),

there are three types of stress: acute stress, episodic acute

stress, and chronic stress. Acute stress, which is the most

popular kind of stress, is caused by demands and pressure in the

daily life and it does not last long. Episodic acute stress is

due to overworking, over-tension, and over-worrying. However, the

most dangerous type is chronic stress. It is long term for weeks,

months, and even years. Therefore, it is also the most difficult

form of stress to realize and treat.

A concise history of stress (Melissa Stoppler, 2012) shows

that tress had not been acknowledged until the twentieth century,

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when some scientists started doing researches on it. At the

beginning of the twentieth century, the neurologist Walter

Cannon, who was the first scientist to claim that the causes of

stress were both emotional and physical, did some experiments on

animals to see the relationship between mental, emotional states

and physiological functioning. However, he did not point out the

effect was good or bad. Later, Hans Selye (1936), another

scientist who had been studying stress, did experiments on rats

in various ways. He discovered that if the process of the

adapting to constant stress was excessive, it could damage the

body. Since then, stress has been thought to have bad effect on

people’s health.

Stress has two aspects but people tend to recognize only one

aspect which is the bad one. Therefore, this research is to show

both aspects of stress and people can clearly acknowledge stress.

To make it particular, we focus on teenagers who are the most

concerned subject of the society.

Questionnaire

1. How often do you do exercise?

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A. Everyday

B. 3 times a week

C. Sometimes

2. How many hours do you spend sleeping a day?

A. 8 hours

B. Less than 8 hours

C. More than 8 hours

3. Are you under too much parental pressure?

A. Yes

B. No

4. Which level of stress are you at?

A. Low

B. Medium

C. High

D. Very high

5. What makes you stressed most?

A. School

B. Family

C. Relationships

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6. How do you react when you are under stress?

A. Aggression

B. Depression

C. Escape or hide

7. What do you do to get over stress?

A. Talking with your friends

B. Shopping

C. Taking part in outdoor activities

D. Eating

E. Others ( Write your answer below )

8. Have you ever thought in a negative way due to stress?

A. Yes

B. No

9. In your opinion, what kind of food is good for stressed

people?