7 Reasons Teens Have So Much Anxiety
- High Expectations
Today’s teenagers are under a lot of stress and tend to place high expectations on themselves. Most teens want to do well in school and might expect to go to prestigious universities. Many participate in after school sports and part-time jobs.
Today’s teens also volunteer, participate in community events, have chores at home, and want to maintain active social lives. These expectations not only make teens feel stress, but they also leave little time for decompressing, having quiet time, and even sleeping. Sleep deprivation adds to anxiety and anxiety makes it harder to sleep, creating a vicious cycle.
- Hormones
Your teen’s hormone production ebbs and flows during adolescence. Sometimes your teen might feel anxious, upset, depressed, and angry for no reason at all. Some of this is likely caused by hormonal fluctuations. Teenage boys are dealing with testosterone surges, and teenage girls are dealing with hormonal shifts due to menstruation. Combined with a lack of experience in dealing with these feelings and general immaturity, hormones are a recipe for stress and teenage anxiety.
- Brain Development
Teenagers don’t have fully developed brains until they are in their early- to mid-twenties or even later. Your teen is expected to take on adult responsibilities, but they don’t have the skills or the brain development necessary to really care for themselves. Your son or daughter has probably had many moments where they didn’t know what they were doing. Frustration mixed with a lack of ability when it comes to “adulting” raises teenage anxiety levels.
- Parental Disapproval
Teens are at an awkward stage where they want the approval of their parents but also want to do things that push up against parental authority and society. This is frustrating for both teens and parents. When they are met with parental disapproval, it’s natural that they feel stressed and anxious. At the same time, they continue with actions that are not what their parents would have them do. This is a necessary and natural stage of development, but it is stressful for everyone involved.
- Peer Pressure and Social Media
negative, but both types raise stress levels. For example, being pressured to shoplift or commit some other crime is stressful and an example of negative peer pressure. If your teen’s peers are all getting excellent grades, applying to good universities, and dating the captain of the football or cheerleading team, this puts a lot of pressure on your own teen to conform and keep up. Social media is also a significant source of stress because it can appear as if their peers are living the perfect life or your teen is being left out.
- Drinking and Drug Use
Many teens experiment with alcohol and, in some cases, drugs. They know they shouldn’t be doing this and that their parents will disapprove. Peer pressure might also be involved. All of these factors can lead to teenage anxiety before, during, and after the experimentation. Worse, some teens will go on to become addicted to these substances, which raises anxiety levels even higher. Finally, some teens who are anxious already will turn to these substances as a form of self-medication. It rarely works; instead, anxiety levels go up, which leads to more self-medication.
- Depression
Some teens have depression, which can present at the same time as teenage anxiety. The symptoms of depression can overlap with the symptoms of anxiety, so sometimes it’s difficult for parents to know which mental health concern is responsible for which symptoms. Our NPS counselors are trained and experienced in how to tease out the difference.