Page 1 of 5

European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 03

March 2019

Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 119

Causes of Stress and Stress Management in Adolescents

Dr. Reetu Sharma

Assistant Professor

Bhavan’s Leelavati Munshi College of Education

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, New Delhi

(Affiliated to GGSIPU, New Delhi)

Email- reetusharma25@gmail.com

Abstract

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Human development includes the life long process of development of all aspects i.e. physical,

cognitive, emotional, behavioural and social. In every stage of life (childhood, adolescence and

adulthood) enormous changes take place in an individual. Throughout the whole process an

each individual develops his/ her own attitude and values which build their own ways to

maintain relationships, to make choices and develop understanding. In adolescence period an

individual goes through the process when he / she develops the philosophy of his/ her life. This

period of development has very important effect on the attitude or personality of an individual.

There are lots of hormonal changes take place in this stage. Rapid psychological and biological

changes lead to confusion, feeling of inadequacy and insecurity in adolescents. An adolescent

has to face numerous of emotional problems in this stage. This creates mental stress and

pressure in children. It is basic requirement for the parents to understand the stressors faced by

adolescents in this critical period of age and need to teach them how to manage their stress. This

paper focuses upon the reasons and suggestions for the parents to deal with the children in this

period of stress and storm.

Key Words: Adolescents, Stress, Stress Management

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Introduction:

A human being goes through many stages of development throughout his/ her life. These stages

start with childhood stage and continue with adolescence, adulthood stages. Every stage has its

own characteristics. Each stage is equally important for the development of an individual.

Adolescence is always considered as the stage of stress and storm. Adolescence is that rapid

stage of development during which children approach adulthood. Suddenly there are lots of

hormonal changes take place combined with restlessness and irritation. Rapid psychological and

biological changes lead to confusion, feeling of inadequacy and insecurity in adolescents. An

adolescent has to face numerous of emotional problems in this stage like demands of school,

Page 2 of 5

European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 03

March 2019

Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 120

family conflicts and responsibilities, physiologic changes along with an uncertain future place

(Lamb, Puskar, Sereika & Corcoran, 1998). This creates mental stress and pressure in children.

Stress is a state of mind which is caused by physical, psychological, social and environmental

factors The unresolved stress may be cause of physical illness, depression, aggression, different

disorders, suicidal behavior, anxiety, poor concentration, substance abuse etc. (Bhola & Kapur,

2000). Stress affects adolescent’s physical and mental well being. It is therefore important to

know about the reasons causing stress and pressure in adolescents.

Reasons for stress and pressure in adolescents:

 Rapid Biological Changes: The biological changes in adolescents are a marked and rapid

increase in the rate of growth and body size, rapid developments of the reproductive organs

and appearance of secondary sexual characteristics. These changes cause discomfort and

stress in adolescents. Due to their adult look alike physical appearance but heart still

behaving like a child, adolescents feel lot of contradictory pressures and experience shame,

guilt and resentment.

 Sexual Changes: In addition to the growth spurt (rapid physical growth due to hormonal

changes) there is development of reproductive system, onset of “menarche” in girls and

increase in genital size and nocturnal emissions in boys indicate their full sexual maturity.

Emergence of acne, skin problems and distinctive new body odours because of stepped up

activity of oil producing glands and sweat glands create another set of problems and stress

for boys and girls. Adolescents are extremely sensitive about their physical appearance and

any discrepancy between their actual self and ideal image is a real source of anxiety and

stress for them.

 Social Restrictions: In today’s society many cultures are integrating. Adolescents start

realizing the tensions between self and society. For many adolescents society appears to be

too rigid and demanding. They see people not accepting them and not respecting them for

what they are. Young people feel uncertain and suffocate due to restrictions and demands

imposed by the society on them. Sometimes they are snubbed for behaving like children and

are expected to behave like adults and on other occasion they are refused to adult like status

by saying that “you still are a kid”. Restrictions like wearing a particular dress or not staying

out late or not making friends of their choice are a source of constant tension for adolescents.

 Emotional Changes: Due to experience of various changes, adolescents become

increasingly aware of their emotions. They demonstrate higher levels of self-consciousness

and are always thinking about, how others are judging them or what others are thinking about

their clothes and appearance. They experience the emotions like anger, fear, shame, disgust

and are unable to either express themselves or deal with them.

 Academic Stress: Most of the adolescents feel that school and academic concerns are on the

top of their list of stressors. Worries about the future such as securing admission in a reputed

college, attaining good grades and preparing for examinations can cause them to experience

tremendous amount of stress. Children in this situation are already much stressed because

they feel so much pressure on themselves to achieve, but sometimes they are also stressed

because of parental or teacher expectations.

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European Journal of Business &

Social Sciences

Available at https://ejbss.org/

ISSN: 2235-767X

Volume 07 Issue 03

March 2019

Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 121

 Family Problems: For many teens, family problems can be another source of stress. Family

problems such parents separating or divorcing, death or illness in the family, parents who

argue and fighting with siblings can contribute to increased stress levels. Nowadays, these

problems are quite normal in families but in the stage of adolescence children are much

affected by the things like these, as this is the time when they are going through the transition

period, they are in the state of confusion. They themselves face identity crises and are not

capable to deal with these kinds of situations. As a result they are caused so much stress.

 Social Development: It is a phase when children want to spend most of their time outside

family. They demand freedom but if they don’t get it they get irritated and get stressed.

 Peer relationships: In this stage of development, a peer group has more importance than any

other thing for an adolescent. This group is like a support for adolescents in the situation of

conflict with parents. They spend more time talking with peers than doing anything else.

They prefer to be with them rather than doing academic work or being alone. Sometimes it

becomes the reason of stress to spend excessive time with peer group and be scolded by the

parents for wasting the time and not concentrating on their academics and other things.

Symptoms to identify the stressful behaviors of Adolescents:

There are some symptoms by which the stressful behavior of adolescents can be identified

these are-

 Due to lack of proper sleep or tension adolescents may have irritable behavior.

 Lack of concentration on academics.

 Increased anxiety and any type of unexplained fear.

 Isolation from family activities and peer relationships

 Regular complaints about headaches

 Poor appetite

 Low immunity

Role of parents in reducing stress of Adolescents:

 Awareness: Parents should be aware of the changes and behavior during adolescence. They

should watch for any stressful behavior signs in their adolescent child and should help them

to overcome it.

 Don’t criticize or compare the teens to others: Teens are highly self-conscious about the

way they look. Parents should avoid pointing it out to them.

 Encourage teens to get enough sleep: Adolescence is the time when adolescents need an

extra boost in getting out of the bed for school. Try to be understanding when teens want to

sleep until late on weekends.

 Encourage a model healthy eating habits: keep plenty of nutritious foods in the house as

children in this stage need to take more calories for their proper growth. Also monitor their

eating habits accordingly.