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Article Excerpt
"I am stressed out" is a phrase that has been echoed by teens down through the ages. The level of stress experienced by teens on a daily basis has been described in lay and professional literature. Adults often underestimate this level of stress and may not always be cognizant of the potential consequences of stress on teens and young adults. This lack of appreciation of the stress experienced by adolescents may be partially related to a lack of awareness of the sources of stress in teen life, the changing nature of stressors through time, the ever-evolving complexities of adolescent life, and the tendency for adults to minimize their own personal stress during the teen years or compare their teen years to the experiences of others. Physiological development, cognitive differences, pubertal changes, immature coping mechanisms, slower recovery from stressful events, and lack of experience in dealing with stress may intensify the stressful events experienced by adolescents (Herrman, 2005).
The purpose of this study was to determine teen perceptions about the stressors they face, offering an adolescent perspective to the literature related to teen stress. According to Lau (2002), teens "can experience a spectrum of stresses ranging from ordinary to severe" (p. 238). Stress has been associated with a variety of high-risk behaviors, including smoking, suicide, depression, drug abuse, behavioral problems, and participating in high-risk sexual behaviors (Finkelstein, Kubzansky, Capitman, & Goodman, 2007; Finkelstein, Kubansky, & Goodman, 2006; Goodman, McEwan, Dolan, Schafer-Kalkhoff, & Adler, 2005). In addition, long-term exposure to stress is associated with a variety of chronic psychological and physical illnesses (Goodman et al., 2005). High-risk teens, or those who live in social disadvantage, may be at increased risk for illness related to chronic exposure to stress, discrimination, stigma, and a "harsh social environment" (Goodman et al., 2005, p. 485). Chandra and Batada (2006) purported that assessing adolescent stressors and "the impact of stress is the first step in the prevention and treatment of its associated chronic diseases" (p. 2). Understanding teen stressors may assist pediatric nurses working with adolescents by helping teens develop resilience to stress, thereby increasing teens' levels of health (Tussaie, Puskar, & Sereika, 2007).
Review of the Literature
The word stress has emerged as a part of current daily vocabulary and is not always well defined as a concept or uniformly understood. Several authorities have defined stress as it relates specifically to teens. According to Goodman et al. (2005), stress refers to a stimulus generating psychosocial and physiologic demands, and requiring action on the part of the individual. Finkelstein et al. (2007) differentiate stress in the adolescent period as having both environmental (objective assessments of conditions) and psychological (subjective evaluations) perspectives of stressful events. The psychosocial perspective views stress from the experience of the individual and dictates that stress is assessed from a variety of dimensions, including the personal meaning of the stressor, the magnitude of the stressor, the demands placed by the stressor, and the coping mechanisms available to react to the stimulus (Finkelstein et al., 2007). The current study is informed by this psychological, or personal subjective assessment, of the stress experience and how stress is interpreted on the individual level.
Chandra and Batada (2006) asked teens to use their own words to define stress. One of the teens described his stress as "a great deal of pain that's inside your body that you can't get out ... and makes you feel bad" (Chandra & Batada, 2006, p. 4). Another stated stress was characterized by "worrying, keeping secrets, gray hair, problems, anger, being tense" (Chandra & Batada, 2006, p. 4). These definitions of stress led to an exploration of adolescent perceptions on the origins of stress. The research related to stress has identified several key sources of stressors having an impact on teens, including school, family and home life, social disadvantage. and other stressors.
School stressors. Pressures in the school setting were frequently cited as stressful by adolescents. Using a pile-sort activity, participants in a study by Chandra and Batada (2006) identified school work "as the most frequent and important source of stress" in their lives (p. 5). The 9th graders stated that the sudden increase in homework was a main stressor for them, along with "worrying about exams and grades" (Chandra & Batada, 2006, p. 5). Green, Holohan, and Feldheim (2003) identified that for even the most confident teen, schoolwork is "often the first area to fall apart under duress" (p. 4). Homework, tests, needing to keep up with daily material, the presence of a learning disability, a conflict with a teacher, problems with other students, or simply a dislike of the school experience represented common areas of stress for the school setting (Green et al., 2003).
According to Lau (2002), there were three main clusters of stress associated with school that included "fear of success or failure, test or performance anxiety, and fears associated with the school setting" (p. 241). In addition, teens with a low self-esteem were reported to seek "acknowledgment and acceptance by teachers and peers," which was also extremely stressful (Lau, 2002, p. 241). Often, "a perceived lack of respect from teachers as well as general conflicts" with teachers stressed teens within the school setting and inhibited "their academic performance and school functioning" (Chandra & Batada, 2006,...
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